Invited to the BassShafai Engagement Party
by SaturnineSunshine
Summary: News has traveled fast and far of Chuck getting engaged to Blair's former minion Penelope. Blair is back in time for the party... for purely innocent reasons of course. C/B of course, even if he is currently engaged to someone else. Last Chapter Up.
1. The Night Before

**A/N**: This has just been an idea I've been toying with (alone with my, like, three other multi fics, but whatever.) I got this idea from Desperate Housewives, if anyone was wondering, but it will end differently. Just the main idea. Blair realizes that Chuck is marrying one of her former minions so she comes back from her exploits in Paris. The first chapter is a little short, but I want to see how this is received first.

**Summary**:

Serena sighed in frustration. "Look, I've been talking to her. She might not even come."

Eric snorted. "Since when has Blair ever forgotten something after she put her mind to it? She's coming to this engagement party."

**Disclaimer**: Future fic. Nothing is mine.

_You have been cordially invited to the engagement part of..._

**Charles Bartholomew Bass**

_to_

**Penelope Shafai**

* * *

Chuck knew as soon as his brother was in his room. There was complete silence which, though not unusual for the smallest van der Woodsen, was slightly unsettling. Chuck could smell apprehension in the air. Like sex.

He placed the paper that he was reading during his breakfast down as he gazed at Eric who was still standing there, looking slightly... well, to be frank, frightened.

"Yes...?" Chuck asked.

"Hey, Chuck," Eric said, failing at nonchalance.

"Is there something you need?" Chuck asked, his interest peaked.

"Uh," Eric said, looking around the kitchen. "Did you happen to read the paper today?"

"Yes," Chuck said obviously. Eric looked at the discarded one by the breakfast foods.

"Not that one..." Eric said evasively.

"Look," Chuck said bluntly, "Penelope has been on me for this whole engagement and right now is my only peace and quiet."

"Considering you're not even at your own place," Eric muttered.

"You're family," Chuck said with relish. "So I'm going to read my _paper_, and eat my breakfast in peace before I go to work and avoid the ball and chain."

"I think technically she'll only be a ball and chain when you're officially married," Eric deadpanned. Chuck smirked and looked back at the headlines.

"I was just wondering," Eric pushed, "if you happen to have read _Page Six_ recently."

Chuck looked up at him suspiciously. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

He was interrupted as Serena came through the door. Chuck just shook his head and got to his feet.

"I'm late anyway," he said. "I don't have time to read gossip tabloids."

"Okay," Eric said simply. Chuck cast him one last look of suspicion before he departed.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Serena asked as Chuck left.

"I was trying," Eric replied.

"What? Are you insane?" Serena cried.

"Uh, no..." Eric said.

"What do think his reaction would be?"

"Maybe he would do the sane thing and call off this horrible idea of a wedding like everyone knows he should."

Serena sighed in frustration. "Look, I've been talking to her. She might not even come."

Eric snorted. "Since when has Blair ever forgotten something after she put her mind to it? She's coming to this engagement party."

"She's going to destroy everything," Serena exclaimed.

"Maybe she doesn't want to," Eric suggested. "Maybe she just wants to see who Chuck's marrying."

They shared a look that meant exactly that thought was too hopeful.

"Besides," Serena said. "She already knows who he's marrying. It's been in all the papers. Just because she was living in Paris doesn't mean she doesn't know that the minion that was most defiant against her is marrying the one man she never got over."

* * *

Chuck ducked into the penthouse quietly, hoping to avoid the confrontation he knew what was coming.

"You're home."

Chuck looked over reluctantly to his fiancé.

"Yeah."

Penelope exhaled. "Where were you?"

"At work."

"It's one in the morning, Chuck," Penelope scolded. "You smell like alcohol."

Chuck's eyes narrowed. "I'm under a lot of stress at the moment."

"Like what?"

"_Like what_?" Chuck spat. "Not to mention this engagement that I'm bending over backwards for, but its a complete disaster at work. You breathing down my neck like this isn't helping."

"Fine," Penelope said coldly.

Chuck glared back at her. When he was younger, he always thought that when he would be getting married, it would be to a model half his age. No one did better than Bart. Instead, he was in his mid twenties and marrying a wannabe. A wannabe to the one person he couldn't even voice in his own head.

"I'm going to bed," Chuck bit out harshly.

Penelope knew that was not an invitation. She continued reading. When she knew he was down for good, she cast aside the front page of _Page Six_. According to the headline, her acidic invitation had worked in riling up the former Queen B.

**Heiress to Waldorf Fortune Back on the Upper East Side**

_And where has our favorite elitist gone? Blair Waldorf finally returns to Manhattan after her long hiatus from pursuits elsewhere. Does this have something to do with the upcoming wedding nuptials of apparently reformed CEO of Bass Industries Chuck Bass to fellow socialite Penelope Shafai..._

* * *


	2. The Day Of

**A/N**: Second chapter. This chapters might be shorter than I anticipated, but I hope they're good enough. Things might seem like they're moving slow now, but it will get better soon, I promise.

**Summary**: Damn all those messed up feelings that he thought were dormant. Damn the heightened jealousy that he felt coursing through his veins at the sight of every male in the room openly checking out what rightfully belonged to him.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything. Everything goes to Gossip Girl and those brilliant writers.

* * *

Blair leaned her head back on the leather interior of the limo in motion. Ugh, limos. That notion wanted to make her vomit. Especially keeping in mind with what she was up against at the moment.

It wasn't like she _wanted_ to go to... his engagement party to a bitch who pretended to be her friend. (To be fair, Blair pretended to be her friend as well.) Regardless, this really wasn't something she _wanted_ to do.

She as being _forced_ to attend this party of all parties. What would everyone think if they knew she had received an invitation and didn't attend? It wasn't like she was crashing. She was obligated. To be fair, she was one of his best friends. (Emphasis on the word "was." They hadn't talked in at least a year.)

She also knew for a fact that he wasn't the one to have sent her the invitation to begin with. That would have been the only exception. If he was the one to send it, she wouldn't have come. That was for certain.

Being cool was his style, but he would never be intentionally overly malicious like that to her. Unless he was sending a message. If he was throwing in her face that he was getting married and it wasn't to her, she definitely wouldn't have showed. And the next time she showed up in town, she would bring down every person who held it against her.

Fortunately, some attention, revenge seeking bitch sent the invitation. Lucky Blair. Now she could have some fun.

Blair closed her eyes as the limo came to an easy stop. Stupid, well trained, well paid professionals who drove her everywhere. Sometimes she didn't even realize she had arrived somewhere until they told her.

She could remember a specific instance when she had to hastily throw her slip back on after said instance. Slightly humiliating, to say the least... even if it was the most iconic moment in the back of a limo... ever.

"Miss Waldorf?" the driver asked over the open partition.

"I know," she sighed.

"You don't have to go in, you know," he suggested helpfully.

Blair gave a wry smile. "Why is it at times like these I feel like I'm paying for more than a driver?"

"Because you're going into the den of the beasts," the driver deadpanned. Blair laughed.

"You're not getting a raise," she shot back. He just smiled as he opened his door.

"It's okay," Blair said, waving him off, knowing he was coming to open her own door. "This is something I have to do myself."

* * *

Eric sighed in defeat as he watched her walk through the door. There was already a crowd. He knew she anticipated this. If Blair Waldorf was coming to the first event in two years, you were going to notice her, damnit.

Eric didn't have much experience in this area, but he knew she looked good. She meant to. He knew this because he was incredibly perceptive. That, and practically the entire male population had turned their heads as she waded through the throng of people. It was like she was parting the Red Sea. Eric knew Chuck noticed it too.

Penelope smiled wryly as she saw her nemesis make her appearance. And everyone saw. Everyone except her oblivious fiancé. He was nowhere to be found. But he would be found soon enough. Penelope was sure of it.

It was obvious that Blair was completely aware of the effect she had on her audience. Everyone was waiting until she made her appearance back into society. To say the least, no one expected it to be this way.

She didn't bring a date. She didn't bring anyone. Everyone she knew already was in this room. She didn't need a date. She just needed herself. It would get the job done and the answer she was looking for. That was the only reason she was here. It definitely wasn't because she was sensitively aware of a pair of scorching eyes burning into her figure.

Chuck had finally drowned out Penelope's insipid voice. He numbed it all with scotch. Scotch always made it better. Through out his entire screwed up life, Scotch was the only friend that was always there for him.

And he almost choked on it.

Penelope was the one who was in charge of the invitations. He didn't care enough about anything to actually put effort into it. But never in the lifetime had a lived, would anything point into the direction that this room had taken. Never would Chuck had thought that Penelope would actually invite... _her_.

Damn all those messed up feelings that he thought were dormant. Damn the heightened jealousy that he felt coursing through his veins at the sight of every male in the room openly checking out what rightfully belonged to him.

Of course, he was with someone else now. She didn't belong to him anymore, and she sure as hell would have hit him in the head with her clutch if she ever heard him make such a statement of possession even when they were together.

That didn't negate the fact that Chuck desperately wanted to throw his glass of scotch at every man in the room.

Except Eric. Eric was nice.

And that was strange because Chuck Bass didn't do violence. He hired people to do it for him.

So he did what he was good at. He stared.

Since the time he and Penelope decided to get engaged, he had wondered about this exact moment. He wondered what it would be like to see her again. He wondered if it would be at the wedding, after the honeymoon, or just one random night when she would come into his bedroom and slit his throat.

But each moment was the same. He thought he could contain himself, but he just couldn't. He still couldn't be without her. And it sucked.

She didn't see him first. She never did. It was always him who was the one trailing her in the limo, stalking her at balconies or around cement corners watching her make out with her boyfriend on school grounds.

She walked in the most poised and graced fashion he had ever seen.

She was wearing black. She always did the best in black. She was always perfect. Everyone was in bright and celebratory colors. She was dressed in the most risqué and dark dressed she could pull off for a Waldorf. And no one could have pulled it off better than her.

The dress hugged her in all the right places. She knew she was being watched and she took it on, glad she was finally being admired. This was her plan. Chuck wasn't sure of the extent of it, but it was there.

She paused in the middle of the room and their eyes met. Finally. Chuck made sure to betray no emotion. He held up his indifferent mask as well as she did. They stared at each other for what seemed like eons. No one was looking at him yet. None of the men, anyway.

She gave him the slightest of flippant eye brow raises. With that, she dismissed him and he was astonished. She gave him that look that said he was inferior and turned her back on him. She walked out of sight.

And that's when it occurred to him.

She didn't come here for him. That didn't mean that she didn't want to be here because of him.

Chuck just stood there stupidly. She had come to _his_ engagement party and actually dismissed him, made it look like he didn't even matter. Bitch.

God, he missed her.

* * *

Blair's heart hammered wildly against her chest as she turned her back on him. She really hadn't expected him to be standing right there, staring her in that vulgar way that told her he was undressing her with his eyes.

How dare he? First, how dare he do that at all. But then... how dare he bring up these emotions she thought she had shut down for good?

Seriously. She was at his engagement party and already he was devising a way to get her into his bed. She didn't come here for him. That didn't mean that she didn't want to be here because of him. And he knew it too. She was sure of it.

She was relieved when she saw Nate on the couch (still with Vanessa? Jesus, Nate, get some class sometime.)

"Archibald," Blair greeted pleasantly. Nate started.

"Blair," he said in astonishment. "What are you even doing here?"

"Enjoying the party," Blair said, snagging a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, "just like everyone else."

"Blair," Vanessa said blandly.

"Vanessa," Blair said. Everyone was surprised when her tone didn't hold as much scorn as it usually did. Vanessa looked taken aback. The people surrounding them knew it was just short of a compliment.

"Does Chuck..." Nate started.

"He should," Blair said. "It is his engagement party, after all."

"Yeah, but..." Nate said awkwardly.

"Don't worry your pretty little head," Blair said (slightly condescendingly.) "I'm not here for him."

"You're not," Nate said skeptically.

Blair sighed airily. "As hard as it may to believe, I have other motives."

"Not innocent ones," Vanessa muttered.

"Well, obviously," Blair laughed. "But I can honestly say none of them have to do with Chuck Bass."

"Well that's a relief."

Blair looked up at the commentator.

"Eric," she smiled. It wasn't fake. She rose to her feet and they hugged.

"I think he'll be offended if he hears you say that," Eric said.

Blair shrugged. "He already knows."

"What?" Eric asked uneasily.

"Probably the way I blatantly walked away from him mid-oggle."

Eric laughed at this.

"You did make a really obvious entry," Eric said.

"As my intention," Blair said. "But it wasn't to attract the attention of a certain Bass-tard."

"Oh, no?" Eric asked. "Then whose?"

"Blair," came the cold society bitch tone.

Blair turned confidently to meet her.

"Hello, Penelope," Blair said, her true bitch finally rearing its brutally beautiful head. "Have I said congratulations yet?"


	3. The Day Of: 9:27 AM

**A/N**: So here's the third chapter. I hope the confrontation with Penelope is up to expectation. But even so, they'll have more, so no need to worry. And there's definitely Chair in this chapter (even if its not a lot.)

**Summary**:

Instantly, Blair had forgotten her mission of getting a drink in the kitchen. Not when his arms wrapped around her like that.

"I knew you would come," he whispered huskily in her ear.

**Disclaimer**: Gossip Girl does not belong to me. Tragic.

* * *

Penelope closed the door of her room behind Blair.

"You came," she said.

"A little more than obvious," Blair said, scrutinizing her surroundings, "but what else would I expect from a person who screws her father's law firm partner?"

"You haven't changed a bit," Penelope said lowly.

"Neither have you," Blair said. "Still trying to get revenge on people who you've left behind a decade ago. But, me? I think I have changed."

"Oh, really?" Penelope asked skeptically. "That's why you came all the way here from Paris. Because _you're_ not interested in revenge?"

Blair shrugged. "It's not like I came here to steal your fiancé."

"Why not?" Penelope demanded. Blair gave her a curious look.

"You know, P, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought the sole purpose of sending me that invitation was so that I _would_ steal your _charming_ fiancé. Good thing I know better, because that just doesn't make any sense."

"Then why are you here, B?"

"Why, to talk to you of course," Blair said innocently.

"Me?" Penelope asked, raising an eye brow.

"Of course," Blair said. "Why else would I be here? I'm just here to congratulate a friend in getting married."

"You're lying," Penelope said.

"We'll see," Blair sneered. "But I am here to talk to you. Even if it isn't about your pending marriage."

"What is it about, then?" Penelope questioned.

"You sent me the invitation."

"Your point?" Penelope asked.

"So I'm right," Blair said. "It was you."

"Who else would it be?" Penelope sneered.

"And another thing," Blair said, ignoring the question. "You don't even back down from admitting revenge. That's all this is. You want revenge by throwing in my face that you're getting married before me?"

Penelope's eyes narrowed.

"No," she said simply. "Not just that."

"What, then?" Blair asked.

"You know 'what,'" Penelope said in annoyance.

"Tell me," Blair said stiffly.

"Tell you what?" Penelope asked. "That the true revenge is who I'm getting married _to_, and not just the marriage itself?"

"And finally," Blair finished. "What did I do to deserve your ire?"

Penelope's lips curled sardonically.

The door banged open.

"Excuse me," Penelope said in annoyance before she saw who was standing there.

"Blair."

Blair sighed with laughter at her best friend.

"Serena."

Penelope pursued her lips. This was her room, but she wasn't completely dense to the fact of the social hierarchy. She could get away with bitching out Blair because they were the same. They were both bitches, even if Blair was higher up on the scale.

Serena, however, was different. Blair may have been in charge, but Serena was the It Girl. She was too light and friendly to be cut down. Even if she was Blair's best friend. She turned her head away in disgust as the two friends embraced.

Serena looked over Blair's shoulder.

"So," she said. "What were you talking about?"

Blair cast Penelope a look.

"We were just finished," Blair said and walked out the door. It didn't matter. She could finish this conversation later.

"What are you doing here, Blair?" Serena asked as they walked along the second floor.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Blair asked, more to herself.

"Because," Serena said, halting them. "No one thought you would be coming. Not when its his--"

"I'm not here for him," Blair said, probably about for the 14th time. Not that she wasn't staying for him. But it wasn't like she was going to divulge that information who had never really approved of her step brother.

"Blair," Serena said softly. "When it comes to the two of you... You may not have planned to come here for him, but things always turn out different than you planned. Take losing your virginity for instance."

"I rue the day I divulged that information," Blair said dryly.

"I don't," Serena said. "I'm glad I know that I can no longer ride in my brother's limo. It's tainted."

"Thank you very much," Blair said, rolling her eyes.

"Well its not like you've done that in like five years."

Blair didn't answer and headed for the staircase.

"Oh my god," Serena said. "When?"

"Less than five years ago," Blair said simply, descending the stairs.

"How long ago?" Serena asked darkly. "Because 'less than five years ago' could also translate into 'less than five minutes ago.'"

"Please, Serena," Blair said. "You owe me at least a little dignity. "I haven't talking to him in like a year."

"That's a relief," Serena said as they made it back to the party floor.

"I'm getting a drink," Blair said.

"Blair..." Serena said in a warning tone.

"I'm just going to the kitchen," Blair said, not turning back.

"And am I glad you did."

Blair froze at the voice. _That_ voice. The voice that had plagued her dreams for every night... not to mention the visuals.

She felt him approach her from behind. His body heat radiated off him and Blair wished she could run. But she couldn't. She wouldn't.

Instantly, Blair had forgotten her mission of getting a drink in the kitchen. Not when his arms wrapped around her like that.

"I knew you would come," he whispered huskily in her ear. Blair shook slightly, clenching onto the bar top to anchor herself.

His hands slid from her waist and joined her own hands on the counter top.

"No," she whispered, knowing he could hear her.

"No, what?" Chuck asked playfully.

"I didn't come for you."

He slid his hands from the top of the counter only to clench her shoulders tightly and whirl her around to face him. It was the first time she was this close to him in... she didn't know how long. He studied her eyes deeply and she knew he was trying to see if she was lying.

"You didn't even invite me," Blair said. "Why would you care if I showed up or not?"

"Because," he said smoothly, "I--"

"Don't," she snapped.

"Don't, what?" he smirked.

"Don't you dare say it, Chuck Bass," she said angrily.

"Why?" Chuck asked. "Its true."

"Not anymore."  
His expression hardened. "For me it is."

"Right," Blair sneered, "that's why this is your _engagement_ party to _another woman_."

"Jealous?" he asked.

"Should I be?" she shot back. "You didn't even know that I was coming."  
"But I hoped," he said, "so I could explain--"  
"Nothing," she whispered. "Absolutely nothing. Now I'm going to get a drink like I originally planned. You're not going to follow me."

He obeyed orders as she went out of the back of the kitchen and to the bar he knew was back there. He sighed and leaned his head against the cabinets.

"Rough day?"

"Go away, Brooklyn (one of many.)"

Sure enough, Vanessa stood there watching him with intense curiosity.

"I thought you were here with Nathaniel, anyway."

"That's never stopped _you_ before," she said. "Don't you have a habit of stealing his girlfriends?"

Okay, now he was mad.

He whirled to face her, his face contorted in a fit of rage.

"Listen to me, boho barista," he snapped. "You will never mention again the chain of events that you know nothing about ever again in my presence. Is that understood?"

"I know understand that I was the second girlfriend of Nate's to be bedded by you," she said simply.

"No..." Chuck said. "I never slept with any of Nate's girlfriends. They're all exes. There's a difference. And I would appreciate that you would never mention _that_ little detour again."

"Why?" Vanessa asked. "Embarrassed?"

"To be frank?" Chuck asked. "To be frank, the entire time, I was thinking of her. Stay out of it."

"So you believe her?"

Chuck groaned. She wasn't leaving anytime soon.

"Believe what?"

"That she's not here for you."

"I really don't think that's any of your business," Chuck retorted.

"I talked to her before," Vanessa said helpfully. "You may not have been her first reason for her coming here, but that doesn't mean you aren't a reason."

"Are we speaking in riddles now?" Chuck sneered.

"Defense mechanism," Vanessa said simply. "You always hurt the ones you love."

"What's a defense mechanism?" Chuck asked.

"Getting drunk."

"Like I didn't already know that," Chuck snorted.

"She's changed," Vanessa said. "Not quite as venomous as usual, but she still has a job to do. She has her perspectives in order now."

"Well look who knows so much," Chuck said. "You don't know anything about her."

"I know the heartbreak of what its like to see the one you love connecting themselves to someone else. See? Defense mechanism."

"Wait," Chuck said. "She doesn't actually think..."

"That you really plan on going through with this wedding, even now that she has shown up?" Vanessa asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure she does."

Chuck smirked. "Stupid girl."

* * *

"I need a drink," Blair sighed dramatically as she sat at the bar. Eric laughed next to her.

"Anything I can get you?"

"Um..." Blair pondered. "Look through that book and see whatever has the most alcohol in it."

She pointed to the drink mixing book that was basically an encyclopedia for every drink in the world and how to make it.

"Ah," Eric said. "The alcoholic's bible."

"More commonly known as Chuck Bass."

"Ouch," Eric commented.

Blair leaned her head against the bar.

"Okay, okay," Eric smiled and started opening to see if there was anything that might possibly make Blair incapacitated in the next ten minutes.

"What?" Blair asked as Eric paused.

"Nothing," he said hastily. "Its nothing."

He continued flipping through the pages as if nothing was wrong. There obviously was.

"What's wrong, Eric?" Blair said sternly. He could never ignore her when she got like that.

"Its just..."

"Show me," she said immediately.

"I..." Eric said uncertainly.

Blair grabbed the book from him and opened to the page he was on. She stared.

"What the hell?"


	4. 9: 38 AM

**A/N**: Next chapter. I wasn't going to end this chapter here, but it seemed like a good place, even though I could have extended it. I hope what Blair found wasn't to predictable or lame. Some of you were asking why Chuck and Blair weren't together and that's answered this chapter.

**Summary**:

"I came here for Penelope. But I'm done."

"We're never done," Chuck husked to her.

**Disclaimer**: Nothing belongs to me. All the amazingness that is Chuck and Blair belongs to Gossip Girl.

* * *

"I'm sure its nothing," Eric said reassuringly. Blair hadn't even looked up yet. Eric cringed when he heard the familiar tapping of expensive leather. Blair knew that sound too as well. Her eyes finally snapped up as Chuck walked up the staircase, not giving a moment's notice to Blair. Oh, he would. She would make sure of that.

"Where are you going?" Eric asked desperately as Blair snatched up the incriminating evidence and followed in hot pursuit.

Blair didn't answer. It was only when she slammed his bedroom door behind him that his gaze met hers. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking around at the suitcases with servants packing them as Chuck supervised.

"Going somewhere?" Blair asked dangerously.

Chuck smirked lightly, but she knew that he had no idea what she was doing here.

"Yes," he said. "I'm going on a business trip..."

Blair honestly didn't care. She cut him off by whipping out what she was hiding.

"What the _hell_ is this?"

Chuck's eyes scoped what she was holding and his face fell.

"If you'll excuse us," he said courteously to the servants who quickly obliged. No one wanted to face the wrath of Chuck Bass. It was when the servants left that Chuck laid down his hand.

"Where did you get that?" Chuck snapped, snatching the picture from her hands.

Blair was trying to not to explode. She really wasn't. But where the hell did he get off keeping something like that?

"Where you left it," Blair said simply. "Between the pages of a dirty martini and a single malt scotch. But you weren't opening that book anyway. You already know how to mix it."

"Clever," Chuck sneered.

"That's more than I can say for you," Blair spat. "What the hell are you doing? Keeping a picture of _us_?"

Chuck looked down at the picture he was holding. They were young. Younger than they were now. Identical burning eyes paired with that familiar smirk. Chuck and Blair as teenagers right after everything had worked out. Chuck's hand was lecherously on Blair's shoulder as if the innocent gesture was just asking to be suggestive. That picture wasn't distributed to anyone else. Blair's touseled hair could point as to why. In her inhibitions, she didn't let anyone but Chuck see. When she was the most free... and his silk sheets in the background showed why. And they were in love. And Chuck kept it.

"Nostalgia," he said simply. "It was the only picture you didn't get your hands on to burn."

He scowled at the memory. Luckily he had rescued his scarf from the Blair Waldorf bonfire that destroyed many of his possessions after that certain blow out.

"Chuck," she said softly. "What are you doing?"

"What's the problem?" Chuck asked. "It's not a big deal. Its just a picture."

"Of _us_," Blair said again. "You're getting _married_."

"True..." Chuck said vaguely as he slipped the picture into his jacket. Blair froze and took a hesitant step backwards.

"Chuck..." she said warningly.

He just raised his eyebrows.

"_No_."

He still didn't answer, his eyes still boring into her.

"Chuck," she said again with conviction.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Tell me you're really marrying Penelope."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Tell me you're really going through with this marriage. Tell me this isn't just a..."

"Facade?" he asked coolly.

"What are you doing, Bass?" she asked for about the third time.

"Business investment," Chuck shrugged, trying his hand at nonchalance.

"You don't need a business investment," she informed him. "You're the richest man in New York."

"As much as I never tire of hearing those words," he said, "you can never have enough money."

"And as much as I would never disagree with that statement," she said, "why _her_? What's so special about her?"

"Why the sudden interest, Waldorf?" he asked. "Wish it was you?"

"How dare you?" Blair snapped. "How dare you do this to me?"

"What are you talking about?" Chuck asked. "How the hell did I know that my vindictive fiancé would invite her enemy?"

"You yourself said you hoped I'd come."

"Yes," he said. "And I admit that. But I never actually thought that you would and if you did... maybe you'd come for me. But I suppose that's just my overactive ego again, now isn't it?"

"For you?" Blair sneered. "Why would I come here for you? After everything..."

"That was your doing, not mine," Chuck said darkly.

"You caught me by surprise," Blair said stiffly.

"So that merits running off to Paris for two years?" he asked. "Talk about melodrama, Waldorf. If you hadn't, maybe it would be you and me in this position instead of me and Penelope."

"Please," Blair scoffed. "You would never propose."

"I proposed to her," he offered.

"For a business investment," Blair threw his words right back in his face. Chuck smirked.

"And you know I would have, Waldorf," he said quietly. "That's why you ran, wasn't it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"It wasn't because you thought I was having an affair," Chuck said, "which I wasn't, by the way. You saw that ring and you freaked."

"I don't recall," Blair said averting her gaze.

"It wasn't for you," he said. "But I would have given it to you. We weren't ready, but we could have been."

"And now the same ring that 'could have' been meant for me is adorning Penelope's finger."

"Please," Chuck rolled his eyes. "I would never give it to her."

"What?" Blair asked. "You bought another one?"  
"I never bought the first one," he said. "It was my mother's. I didn't buy it for you. I didn't buy it. But I would have given it to you. You knew that and you ran."

"So instead," Blair reasoned. "You hopped into bed with the next socialite you saw, immediately chaining yourself in matrimony."

"What a romantic notion," Chuck said sarcastically. "But as difficult as it might seem, I didn't propose."

"But you don't deny sleeping with her," Blair said, hoping her jealousy wasn't seeping into her voice.

"Not that its any of your business," he grinned. "But no, I haven't."

"I don't believe you," Blair said.

"And that was always the problem," Chuck said, hiding the hurt on his face. "You always think the worst of me."

"You know that's not it," Blair said, disgusted with that notion. "She's Penelope Shafai. Getting engaged to her would make any man jump into bed with her. _Humphrey_ would jump into bed with her. She's beautiful. You don't deny that."

"Maybe," Chuck said. "But she doesn't even compare to you."

"Stop," Blair said taking another step back. "Just... stop."

"Why?" Chuck asked, following her. "Its the truth."

"Don't," she whispered.

"Why did you follow me up here?" he asked. "It wasn't just because of that picture. You know its not."

"I..." Blair stuttered. She only became flustered in the presence of him and she hated it. He was her kryptonite.

"Why are you here, Blair?" Chuck asked softly. But she could hear him so clearly. His breath shuddered in her ear.

"That's it," she returned. "I came here for Penelope. But I'm done."

"We're never done," Chuck husked to her.

"You should go downstairs," Blair told him. "Your fiancé's waiting."

"This is my room," he told her.

This forced her to look into his eyes and she hated him for it.

But she loved him.

She was defenseless against him and that was probably how his large hand had found its way to the back of her fragile neck, pulling her in.

"Why are you with her?" Blair asked quietly.

"Because you weren't with me," he told her. "But you're here now. Aren't you?"


	5. 9:50 AM

**A/N**: My updates might be slowing down for awhile. I'll continue writing but I just hope that this doesn't become too boring or anything. This chapter has another apperance of Vanessa. I really don't like the character, but she's helping to move the plot along so she's necessary. And Chuck and Blair will get better, I promise.

**Summary**: "He can't care about me like that," she started again. "He couldn't have cared about me the whole time. After everything... He can't hurt me so much by doing so little... and still care."

**Disclaimer**: Nothing belongs to me. All is Gossip Girl.

* * *

Chuck shoved the suitcases that were being packed onto the floor as he threw Blair onto the covers. Her breath was knocked away at Chuck's rash, but not quite unexpected actions. Before she could protest, he was on her, kissing every inch of bared flesh to his disposal.

Two years.

Two years was a hell of a long time. Especially when you haven't been touched by a certain person you could never forget. And now, he had stolen her breath away again. She of course could have no idea how much she missed him until he was licking her neck in that certain way again.

She knew she missed him. But for some reason it was that specific Chuck Bass move that made her heart race more than she could ever recall.

It was when his tongue flicked out to taste her lips did something occur to her. She wasn't here for him. She was technically the other woman. Getting it on with someone else's fiancé in the bedroom. Even if said fiancé did technically belong to her. Minions should remember that.

"Chuck," she said, trying to stop him but having it come out more like a moan.

"I'm here," he groaned into her hair. She tried to keep her mind off how he was devouring her neck but it seemed impossible.

"No," she murmured, pushing at his chest. "Stop."

His movements stopped abruptly. He always listened to her when it came to things like that. He was always the one to ask her if she was sure, even at highly passionate moments such as this.

"What is it?" he asked breathlessly.

"We can't do this," she said painfully aware of how he was specifically pressed up against her, hip to hip and the trail of sweat the was smoothly gliding down her collarbone. Where Chuck couldn't take his eyes off.

"Why not?" he smirking, leaning into her again.

"You're getting married."

"Oh, please," Chuck said, leaning away. "You think I'd marry her now?"

"Yes," Blair said hotly. "You proposed to her."

"Technically, it was her who brought up the proposition," Chuck held up a hand. "And its not like you're friends with her anyway."

"You're with her," Blair said. "That means something."

"Is that what you want?" he asked quietly.

"What?"

"If its what you want, tell me," Chuck told her. "Just tell me what you want and I'll do it. If you tell me to break up with her, I'll do it. If you want me to marry her, I'll marry her."

"I don't want you to marry her," Blair blurted out.

"Then what do you want, Blair?" he asked softly.

"What I want..."

She never really finished the revelation. They both knew what she wanted. And all she could do was let it happen. She was powerless against him and sometimes, it was just nice to lose control. Especially to him.

Already, Chuck was unbuttoning his shirt without disconnecting his mouth from hers. She knew what she was doing was wrong. Penelope may have been a bitch but committing adultery with someone's fiancé was something no one really deserved. Cheating was something no one really deserved. But when she was with him, Blair just didn't care. So she let his hands shove her skirt up, baring her thighs.

Chuck's hand traveled down her collarbone, revealing her neckline when he stopped. The diamonds glinted up at him. His eyes traveled to hers as she shifted uncomfortably under his weight.

"You still have it," he said, looking down at the Erikson Beamon necklace that had been hidden temporarily by her high neckline.

Suddenly, sharp raps on the door ripped them both from the moment. Distractedly, Chuck leapt from off of Blair as she pulled her skirt over her thighs again. He tucked in his dress shirt as she righted her hair just as Penelope walked in.

She eyed them with sharp suspicion before she spoke.

"We're opening gifts now," she told Chuck coldly. Blair wasn't about to sneer at the fact that Penelope demanded presents for an engagement that was most likely going to fall through. And Penelope knew it.

"We'll be right down," Chuck said, ignoring the obvious awkwardness that had just occurred.

"What were you doing?" Penelope asked, though she really didn't need to ask in the first place.

"What does it look like?" Blair asked snidely.

Chuck froze at the question as Penelope's gaze sharpened.

"Your oh so charming fiancé was antagonizing me once again."

Chuck held back a smirk. It never ceased to amaze him how Blair could lie so flawlessly under pressure.

"Right..." Penelope said, obviously unconvinced. No matter how flawless Blair's lies were, you just couldn't ignore chemistry. And it was obviously flowing before Penelope even got there.

"We'll meet you downstairs," Chuck told her. As soon as the door closed, Blair aimed a well placed smack to Chuck's head.

"Ow."

"What were you thinking?" Blair demanded in a hushed whisper.

"Its not like they don't know what's going on already," Chuck defended himself.

"Oh?" she asked. "And what exactly is going on?"

"Oh, come on, Blair," Chuck groaned. "The same thing that's been going on since..."

"Since when?" Blair demanded. "Nothing is going on."

"Is that what you tell yourself?" Chuck asked quietly. "Is that what's been keeping you away all this time? Is that what you tell yourself so you don't come back to me? The same nothing that's been between us since... Since forever."

"You're mistaken," she said strongly.

"You would like to think that, wouldn't you?" Chuck smirked. "But you know its not true. It was nothing that always connected us. How we understand each other in the way that the others can't. How you understand what it was like to be neglected by your own parents. How we understand the turmoil inside hidden by a hard outer shell. And even when we hurt each other... we ran away and cut each other down. Even when you were with _him_... it was always us, Blair."

Chuck took a deep breath. Usually his words were succinct. He could always get his point across by using the least amount of breath. He looked into her eyes that he knew she was holding back emotion that he wished he could tap into. He wished she would come back to him.

"Chuck..." she whispered softly. He gazed at her face.

"I have to go," she said shortly, shaking her head. Chuck exhaled in defeat as she fled from the room. It didn't even occur to him what happened when he finally collected himself, descending the stairs, and she was no where to be seen.

* * *

Like hell Blair was going down there. She wasn't going to go down the stairs and put on that perfect princess facade. She wasn't going to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn't. She didn't want to pretend anymore.

She didn't know whose room she was in. Probably Penelope's judging from the expensive interior design. Like it mattered. She curled in on herself on the elaborate bedspread and finally let the tears flow.

But Blair held back. She was good at that by now. If only for a little while. She could hold back her tears on a dime ever since she was eighteen. Especially when it pertained to him. She couldn't let anyone see her in this condition. It was beyond humiliating. Since she knew she would be taking the trip down here she had promised herself it wasn't because of him. It couldn't be because of him.

It just didn't make sense. Things between them couldn't be more complicated. But it was always like that. She didn't know how not to cause drama with him. They were happy. She remembered that much. But at the first sign of commitment, she was the one who bailed. She always assumed it would be him, but it was her.

She just couldn't let them end up like her parents. She couldn't give her whole heart to someone have them rip it away. It was unlikely that he would leave her for another man. But that wouldn't stop him from leaving her for someone else at all. What would keep him with her? She couldn't even understand what it was that made him be with her to begin with.

She didn't want to end up like all those other couples. Serena had a nice run with Carter, but like that was going to last anyway. Sometimes on the Upper East Side, it just made sense to marry the bigger money. You wouldn't have your heart broken like that.

But marrying someone you were so desperately and passionately in love with seemed like suicide. It seemed like you were just begging for someone to tear your heart right from your chest in his drunken stupor and stomp all over it. It never stopped him before. Why should it now?

Blair flipped on the television. It would cover up her sounds of dismay. No one could know that the still reigning Queen Bitch actually gave a damn. That was beyond humiliation. Especially if a certain bohemian Brooklyn resident were to see her in such a condition. That was something she could never live down.

Vanessa hadn't heard the crying at first at all. It was the white noise of the television that alluded her to what was going on behind the bedroom door. She didn't know why she opened it. It wasn't like she cared about all these self absorbed millionaires.

But when she did open the door to see the television playing another Lifetime event about desperate housewives, she saw something that she would never forget. Not only was she crying, but it was Blair. The Blair that went out of her way to humiliate her beyond measure. The Blair that actually asked someone to seduce her just to humiliate her. But that sort of made sense.

What didn't make sense was why she would use someone she was undoubtedly in love with to seduce someone who was trying to blackmail her. But it all made sense when Vanessa opened that door. Blair wasn't a cold hearted bitch. That was just the mask. The mask she put up to not get hurt.

Vanessa closed the door silently behind her. Blair was curled into a ball on top of the comforter, her frail body wracked with sobs that she could now clearly hear over the crashing of vases by the ex model on the television.

Blair sat up immediately when she heard the sound of Vanessa's pink combat boots on the floor. Vanessa expected that cold glare that Blair was so infamous for. She didn't receive it. It was like she was broken. She couldn't even muster the energy to pretend to be mean anymore.

"What?" Blair asked in a choked up voice, her mascara streaked down her face.

"Are you okay?" Vanessa asked awkwardly, not exactly sure how to comfort someone so out of her element.

"Splendid," Blair bit out. Well at least she could muster enough energy for sarcasm. "This is the best party I have ever been to."

"I see that..." Vanessa said at Blair's crumpled form.

"Now if you're done having another laugh at my expense, you can leave and tell everyone what a failure I am."

"Failure?" Vanessa asked, astonished. It didn't make any sense.

"You don't get," Blair asked, "do you? This wasn't supposed to happen. I was supposed to come her, make sure I still had my status and leave. It was supposed to be that simple. But he never makes anything simple, does he?"

"Chuck," Vanessa assumed.

"Yes," Blair sneered. "You know so much. Tell me about it."

"What do you mean?" Vanessa asked timidly.

"Tell me," Blair encouraged harshly. "Tell me how documenting everything makes it all better. Tell me how you can keep a safe distance while everyone around you feels nothing but pain."

"I don't understand," Vanessa confessed. She didn't know this Blair Waldorf and it honestly scared her. She didn't know the Blair that was open and honest. She knew the cold person obsessed with other peoples' misery.

"You know better than anyone," Blair said cruelly. "You're the one who slept with him, remember?"

"That's why you hate me?" Vanessa realized. "All this time, that was why?"

"Why else would I hold a grudge this long?" Blair demanded. "You knew what it would do to me. Just because I wanted to ruin you for all of five seconds because you were trying to blackmail me."

"That was years ago," Vanessa said, still in confusion.

"You never forget," Blair said steadily. "The things that matter."

"I didn't do that to get back at you," Vanessa said. "I was really hurting and he was just there. Ask him. It was the same for him."

"What?" Blair snapped.

"He told me," Vanessa said. "Not minutes ago. He was thinking of you the whole time."

"You're lying," Blair said steadily.

"Why would I?" Vanessa said.

"Because he can't," Blair ground out. "He just... he can't."

Vanessa still wasn't on track.

"He can't care about me like that," she started again. "He couldn't have cared about me the whole time. After everything... He can't hurt me so much by doing so little... and still care."

Vanessa took a seat on the bed next to Blair. Blair eyed her with disgust but at least didn't move away from her.

"You think he did this to hurt you?" Vanessa asked again. It didn't make sense. Why these two people didn't see what was right in front of their faces. They were the smartest and most conniving people she had ever met and they just didn't get it.

"He didn't get engaged to Penelope just to hurt you," Vanessa said. "He just wanted you back. When people are so blinded with love, they'll do anything."

"You would know," Blair said, "wouldn't you? Do you even know what its like to look ahead and only see one person? You know its wrong and you know its impossible... but you can't see anything else. And it hurts."

"Is that why you stayed away?" Vanessa asked.

"Its not any of your business," Blair said coldly. "But fear was the most dominant emotion in my arsenal."

"Do you know what he did?" Vanessa asked. "When you were just gone one day?"

"No," Blair said stonily, standing up. "And I don't want to."

"You're going downstairs?" she asked.

Blair took a deep breath and looked in the mirror. She wiped away the streaks down her face and reapplied her eye make-up.

"Yes," Blair said breathily, turning around. "And if you tell anyone we had this conversation, I will ruin you."

"Duly noted," Vanessa nodded, following Blair out of the room. Blair cast her one last look of disdain before gracefully descending the stairs. Penelope was in the middle of unwrapping something when everyone turned to look at Blair.

Blair didn't look for him on purpose. But she could feel Penelope's waves of hatred radiating off of her at being ignored for Blair again. Blair just leaned against the wall and eyed Penelope, making her continue. It was more than obvious to everyone that it was a challenge. Blair was challenging Penelope to go up against her. And Penelope was always up for a challenge.


	6. 10:50 AM

**A/N**: This is basically a filler chapter. Its just so I can get to where its all going. I've finally figured out how this will end, or at least a SL that will lead to the end. Some of you were wondering about things in the past that are being referenced and its going to go back to that.

**Summary**: "I'm completely powerless when it comes to him," Blair admitted. "Its like I'm watching the movie of my life and the heroine keeps making this self destructive mistakes, but at the same time, I can't help but hope it will work out."

**Disclaimer**: All rights go to GG

* * *

Blair shouldn't have made the trip downstairs. In fact, she shouldn't have come at all. She should have stayed where she was.

She shouldn't have left him at all.

No. that was wrong. That was...

"Blair."

Blair looked away from where she was apparently glaring at Penelope to face Eric.

"Hi," she said, leaning against the wall.

"So..." he said.

"What?" she asked.

"What happened?"

"When?"

"Blair," he looked at her seriously. "You chased Chuck up a flight of stairs and didn't come back until an hour later. I mean you didn't...

Recognition crossed his eyes.

"You _didn't_."

"_No_," Blair replied as they walked into the kitchen. "Just because we're all alone in his bedroom doesn't mean..."

Eric looked at her pointedly.

"We didn't go all the way," Blair clarified, realizing that she sounded like a teenager. The type of teenager that had just told her best friend for the first time she had lost her virginity to the Upper East Side's resident bad boy. Oh, memories.

"Good God," Eric muttered.

"Shh..." Blair said, looking around. "No one can know."

"Its not like they don't know," Eric pointed out. Blair glared at him. They really were brothers.

"You are more like him every day," Blair seethed.

Eric laughed.

"You should hear Serena. It drives her insane."

Blair leaned against the counter in thought.

"Blair," Eric said in all seriousness. "You know you can't do this."

"I shouldn't have come," she said, more to herself. "This was a mistake."

"Who are you kidding?" Eric asked. "You can't believe the relief Serena and I felt when we heard you were back."

"What do you mean?" Blair asked.

"Everyone knows that this whole "engagement" problem is... well, a problem. We knew that as soon as you showed up you would break it up like the sane thing to do."

"I'm not breaking them up," Blair said indignantly. "That's not why I came. That was just... a moment of weakness."

"It doesn't matter," Eric replied. "It was obvious something was going to happen as soon as you showed up. That's the way its supposed to be."

"I can't," she said. "I can't be... the other woman."

"All I'm asking is that he doesn't commit an act of Satan," he replied. "He cannot marry her. Its unnatural. Everyone knows that you were the only person who could break them up."

"What makes you say that?" Blair asked uncertainly.

Eric gave her another look.

"You tell me. You're the one who was up in his bedroom. Alone."

"I hate you," Blair muttered. Eric laughed.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Eric and Blair turned to face Vanessa. She sent her an angry warning glance. Eric looked between the two, automatically assuming the truth that something was going on.

"I hope you're alright," Vanessa tried again.

"Fine," Blair snapped. "It has nothing to do with you."

"That's my cue..." Eric said, trying to avoid awkward situations.

"Its fine," Blair rolled her eyes, exiting through the back of the kitchen, trying desperately to avoid this topic of converastion.

"Blair, what were you thinking?"

Apparently not.

She sighed and turned to greet her best friend. What was it with people today?

"Serena," Blair replied blandly.

"We have to talk," Serena said, dragging her into the empty parlor.

"Let me guess about what," Blair said dryly.

"Come on, B," Serena said more calm now, sitting with her on the couch.

"Don't," Blair warned her. "I've heard enough of this today. I know that you wanted to break them up. And it doesn't help that everyone thinks that I'm a slut."

"They don't," Serena said assuredly. "Just think of what you're doing."

"That's the problem," Blair said. "I was here to see what sort of scheme this was. And now that I have, there's really no point in me staying any longer."  
"You're leaving?" Serena asked.

"It's the right thing."

"I haven't seen you in so long," Serena smiled mildly. "I missed you."

Blair embraced her. "I missed you too."

"Just tell me," she replied. "Was it because of him? Is that why you never came back?"

"You know why I left," Blair acknowledged.

"That wasn't what I asked."

"I didn't come back..." Blair said slowly, "to avoid situations specifically like this. I didn't want to be caught up in this... maelstrom again."

"Is that what its like?" she asked.

"I'm completely powerless when it comes to him," Blair admitted. "Its like I'm watching the movie of my life and the heroine keeps making these self destructive mistakes, but at the same time, I can't help but hope it will work out."

"We do too," Serena smiled. Blair cocked her head to the said. "You know I wish you two could work it out. We could actually be sisters."

"We were always sisters," Blair said, smiling. "But I can't risk it. Maybe if... but that wouldn't work. It never has."

"He's ready now," Serena replied. "I know he is. We can all see it."

"Are you actually asking me to stay?" Blair smirked.

"I wish you would."

"I thought he was ready when we were 18. He said he was. I guess some things never do change."

"Just promise me something," Serena said as they rose together. "Don't go jetting off to Paris again without telling anyone. Just stay in town for a few days. I want to be reacquainted with my sister."

"Of course," Blair replied as they hugged again. She broke away and walked out the door, not even seeing his reflection in the mirror.

"You're just letting her go?" Chuck snapped.

Serena turned to see him staring off in the distance.

"What do you want me to do, Chuck?" she asked. "You of all people will know that she will do what she wants to do. No one can change her mind once its made up."

Chuck smirked sickly and she realized something.

"Chuck, are you _drunk_?" she asked incredulously.

"You're what?" he asked, "surprised by this?"

"She didn't come here for you," Serena sighed. "Don't do this."

"Do what?" he asked. "Go after her? How can I live with myself if I don't? You used to encourage me to fight for her. What happened?"

"You got engaged to one of her minions," she replied nastily.

"Maybe," Chuck shrugged. "But I was right. She did come back. And now I don't have to go through with it."

"Then stop going through with all of these mind games," she chastised. She can't take it anymore.

"I only wanted to see..." he murmured. "I only wanted to see her. Now I have."

"So now what?"

"So now..." he said. "I'm going to do what you told me to and I never could. I'm going after her. And I'm not letting go."

"That doesn't sound healthy," she responded.

"Who is to say?" he asked. "But I know I will never forgive myself when the next time I see her will be at her funeral. Because if I let her walk out that door, I know that will be in the only instance she will ever let me see her again."

"Good," Serena finally said. "At least you're thinking clearly. But stop being so dramatic."

"You're not being sarcastic," Chuck realized.

"About the dramatic thing? Absolutely not."

She paused.

"So what are you waiting for?" Serena asked. He smirked and headed for the door. "I'm tired of having to wait on you two."

* * *

A hand that she was all too familiar with slammed the limo door closed as soon as she opened it. She refused to look into his eyes. She couldn't. Because that would be the end of her.

"You're not leaving."

At those words she found the strength in her to turn around for only one reason.

"You're drunk," she pointed out. "What, watching Penelope open gifts she'll just have to return anyway wasn't entertaining enough?"  
"What makes you think that she'll have to return them?" he asked curiously. Blair recoiled slightly. She couldn't listen to him saying that he would marry that bitch. She just... couldn't.

"There it is," he said softly, touching the place between her eyebrows.

"What?"  
"The reason you're not leaving," he smirked. "You don't want to leave. I know you don't. You don't want me to marry her either."

"That's unfortunate because you so obviously do," she retorted, reaching for the handle again. And he stopped her again.

"I said no such thing."

"Then what the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

"Stopping you from leaving," he replied. "You did it once and I won't let you do it again."

"You can't stop me," she said defiantly.

"What makes you so sure?" he asked.

"Because..." she said, her self assurance waning. He looked at her expectantly. "Don't. Don't... do this."

"I can't help it," he breathed in her ear. "I can't stop myself."

"You're going to have to."

"I can't," he shook his head. "Not anymore. I've been doing it for too long. I stopped myself from coming right after you that night but I can't stop myself now. I was never meant for her. You were always it."

"Then why did you get engaged to her?" she asked desperately.

"The same reason you came when you found out," he replied. "A chance. There was a chance I could see you again and I couldn't pass that up."

"If we go father," she warned him, "I might not be able to stop."

"Good," he said, leaning against her and the car. "I don't want you to."


	7. 1:50 PM

**A/N**: So updating once again. This chapter might be a little short, but the ending is really important and the next chapter is when stuff starts going down so please tune in. The POV switches around a lot but that's sort of something that needs to happen for this chapter to work. Some of the past is sort of revealed (and I don't know if its obvious or not, but that's just how it is.) So I hope this doesn't seem to filler-y, but this was yet another chapter that just had to be written.

**Summary**: She wasn't quite sure why she hadn't blacked out. Usually when Chuck was so close in proximity to her in the most intimate way... that just sometimes happened. After senior high school graduation, that was exactly what happened. In a limo, no less. It had been the first time in a year and a half that they had been together and she just... lost consciousness.

**Disclaimer**: Nothing belongs to me. All goes to GG (which is coming back soon. Yay.)

* * *

In retrospect, when it came to Charles Bass, Blair couldn't make logical decisions. That used to drive her insane. She couldn't understand why him and only him. But it was him. And this time, she finally got it. It was out of her control. That was just something she was going to have to deal with. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she really did like the intense and close scent of the leather interior.

She wasn't quite sure why she hadn't blacked out. Usually when Chuck was so close in proximity to her in the most intimate way... that just sometimes happened. After senior high school graduation, that was exactly what happened. In a limo, no less. It had been the first time in a year and a half that they had been together and she just... lost consciousness. Right there at the end. And he threw it at her at the most blatant moments. It was an arsenal he shouldn't have. It made him smug.

She didn't faint this time. She had a theory it had something to do with the fact that she had to soak him up from the years that they were apart. She couldn't close her eyes for fear of missing a crucial moment.

"What?"

Chuck was still breathing heavily with sweat clinging to his brow when she realized she was staring. They were pressed up against each other because the limo seat didn't have the exact width of a bed. It made sense that they would end up here. Where it all began.

* * *

"So," Serena sighed, sitting next to her brother. "Its been... awhile."

"You were the one that sent him out there," Eric reminded her. "You had to have known that they would... take their time."

"Not exactly smart planning on my part," Serena admitted.

"And you're surprised by this?"  
"I sort of forgot that there's this whole party in tribute to Chuck and another woman."

"Blair sure didn't," Eric said. "Trust me. She'll be back soon."

"Why?" Serena asked. "You think they're not working things out?"  
"There's nothing to work out," he replied. "There wasn't really a problem to begin with. But as long as Penelope remains Chuck's fiancé, Blair won't be caving to anything."

"But they love each other."

"You're too much of a romantic," Eric sighed. "And Blair's too much of an over thinker. She'll make Chuck dump Penelope in front of this whole crowd before she goes anywhere with him."

Serena was mulling this over when Vanessa walked in.

"Well you look unscathed," Eric remarked.

Vanessa sighed. "Blair was too busy being accosted to really care about me intruding on her life."

"Accosted?"

"Well, there's a limo idling outside and I can only assume what's going on in there."

"Yes, let's please not paint a mental picture," Serena said hurriedly. She was too scarred already from the vocal aspect of the Chuck-Blair relationship in the past.

"And I think we have a problem," Vanessa said reluctantly.

"Problem?" Serena asked uneasily.

"Have a look yourself," Vanessa said, motioning towards the door. "I know I'm not really part of this world, but its no one I recognize. And by the look he's receiving, I doubt he was invited."

Serena walked through the door and blanched. She really didn't want this to become more complicated than it already was.

* * *

Chuck eyed her as she pulled her clingy dress back over her head. Already, his organs were curling again and he needed more of her. Now. She shifted her dark hair over her shoulder, looking for her purse.

"You're staring," she pointed out.

"Don't," he warned her.

"Don't what?" she asked, but she already knew. He knew her too well.

"You're getting that look."

"What look?"

"Waldorf," he said scornfully. "I know what you're thinking."

"Do you?" she snapped. The post coital bliss had already faded and now she was getting defensive. She couldn't help it. He brought out the worst in her.

"You're not leaving me," he commanded. Her eyes narrowed.

"If I'm not mistaken, Bass, that sounded a lot like an order."

"Really, Blair?" he snapped. He never took that from her. "It hasn't even been five minutes and you're already looking for an escape route. If I didn't know any better I would think that you were using me."

"Luckily you know better," she seethed. "Don't you dare turn this on me."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Chuck asked. "What could I have possibly done this time?"

"Don't you see?" she asked desperately. "We couldn't even last two hours--"

"It lasted a lot longer than two hours."

"--We're already trying to take each other's heads off," she finished.

"Its who we are," he said softly, edging towards her, trapping her. "We never lived in normalcy. Its what makes us work."

"I cannot believe you," Blair spat. "You cannot be doing this."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Like hell," she sneered. "You just want to keep me. _Penelope_ was such a good investment opportunity. Wasn't she, Bass? You're just going to keep me as your whore. Your concubine. Your mistress."

"You are _deeply_ mistaken," he ground out angrily.

"Then what was the point in all this?" she asked. "You could have come back. You could have come to me."

"_I_ could have?" Now he was mad. "And what makes you so sure of that? _You_ left _me_, remember? I wasn't going to follow you to another continent like some love-sick puppy. That's not me and you know it."

"Right," Blair replied. "Because it was never love, was it? I was just another girl to you."

"Don't even start with that," Chuck spat. "That isn't true. You know it hasn't been. Ever. That story is old. This is about you for once. I'm here. I'm not running away. But you are."

"Not everything is black and white, Chuck," she replied, looking away.

"You think I don't know that?" he questioned coolly. "You and I know that most of all. We have the most complicated relationship to be even considered a relationship."

"Well what if it its not?"

"Please," Chuck rolled his eyes. "You and I both know we have been through too much just to leave each other alone now. We're forever."

Blair hated it when he said things like that. It made her fall even more hopelessly and deeper for him. And that's exactly why he said it.

"You were the one who freaked, Blair," he said. "Not me. Not this time. So don't pretend you're the wronged one."

"Do you even know what its like for me to see you with her?" Blair asked.

"What do you mean?" he replied. "This is the first time we've seen each other in... forever."

It really did seem that way when you were separated from your other half. You felt like a part of you was lost. Maybe that was why she screwed everything up. It was all her fault. And he would never take her back if he knew.

"She's beautiful," Blair said. "She's rich, brunette... skinny. She's perfect. She's me. But better."

"And I'm starting to wonder how good the hallucinogens are over there," Chuck said mockingly in awe. "You are really delusional, you know that?"

"You put me on a pedestal," Blair said, "but I'm not her. I'm not perfect. I'm not anything. I'm not the person you think I am. You think you can be committed to me but you'll realize that I'm just a fraud."

"You're not a fraud," Chuck said, almost laughingly. "I've known you my entire life. There's no way you have anything hidden from me. Its impossible. We know each other best. I knew everything about you before your own parents did. Before Serena did."

"Things change," she said softly to herself.

"Not us."

"I can't do it again, Chuck," Blair shook her head. "I can't face that."

"It won't happen."

"I can't watch you turn your back on me and know its for good this time."

"What makes you think I would?"

"Like you said, Bass," Blair said coldly. "Its who we are. We will always break each other because we can."

"And we'll always recover," he shrugged. "Always have, always will."

"You just don't know--"

"You think I don't?" he asked finally losing his temper. "You think I don't know when you fled to France who was there? You think I don't know about him?"

"Then how can you even look at me?" Blair demanded. "After I do that... after I do everything I do... how can you stand it?"

"Because you're just being you," Chuck replied. "And I won't start being a hypocrite, thinking that I wouldn't have done the same. I have done the same. Right now. So don't even begin to fool yourself. You're not fooling anyone. You're not fooling me."

"Sometimes I wish I could," she replied. "It would be so much easier."

"Don't you think I wish that?" he asked. "I wish to God some days that I never fell in love with you. It would be so much easier. It would be so much easier if I never found out that I had a heart. That it beat for someone just as malicious and biting as me. But I did. And now I can't ever think of going back."

* * *

"Well?" Eric demanded. "Are they back yet?"

"No," Serena said begrudgingly.

"Then we have to take care of this ourselves."

"No!" Serena exclaimed. "You know we can't. They have to deal with it."

"Do you know what's going to happen?" Eric asked. "At the very least, a brawl. And that's even before the scotch starts flowing and Dan gets involved."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Serena asked protectively.

"You know that when it comes to fights, Dan will just jump right in there," Eric replied. "Especially when it comes to protecting someone. Even Chuck. Did he tell you how they both got arrested for a bar-room brawl?"

"Eric," Serena sighed. "You know this is between the two of them."

"Now the four of them," Eric reminded her.

She remembered.

So did Penelope. She smirked just beyond the door, listening to their conversation. In a matter of moments, her beloved fiancé would come through that door with his... _concubine_, and this party was about to get a little more interesting. She would make sure of it.

As a matter of fact, here they came now.

From the moment Blair walked back into the party, she felt dread fill her stomach. It wasn't even the my-sort-of-soul-mate-has-finally-shaped-up-but-sort-of-rejected-me-so-I'm-turning-to-his-best-friend-because-its-easy-and-safe-until-I'm-brave-enough-to-go-back-but-I'm-still-afraid-he'll-hurt-me-again-and-jet-off-to-Europe dread. It was the all encompassing dread that alerted to her that something was terribly and nauseatingly wrong.

She felt Chuck stiffen beside her. And then she saw him.

"Karl."


	8. 2 Years Ago

**A/N**: So I decided to change things up a bit. There's insight to what really happened that led up to everything.

**Summary**:

"Chuck," Eric sighed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm pretty sure that women refer to it as 'wallowing,'" he replied. "With the exception that I don't eat raw cookie doe and watch _Love Story_ on repeat."

**Disclaimer**: Nothing belongs to me. Characters are not mine. Same as usual.

* * *

_The tiles were cold beneath her body. But she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel anything anymore. She couldn't feel the tears scarring her face as her body wracked with sobs on the bathroom floor. She muffled her cries into the carpet so he couldn't hear her in the other room._

_She dug her nails into the floor. She wished she wasn't just staring at her hand, the fourth finger on her left hand to be exact. She didn't want to think about what the diamond would look like placed there like it was made for her. Even though it wasn't. Even though it was made for his mother. And she just left. She couldn't take it back. She would never be able to take it back and she knew it._

_She stood on her shaky legs, supporting herself by the sink. She looked into the mirror at her trashed reflection. She flinched. She started the tedious work of removing all of the black that streaked her face. She thought about just leaving it there, a mark of the treachery she had just committed._

_Instead, she removed all traces that he had made on her body. But she couldn't get rid of the mental imprints and everything you couldn't see. She would have waited in here until her entire body had stopped shaking but then she would be in here forever. She could never stop the effect he had over her body but she had to come out sometime._

_When she was in control over her emotions she stepped out of the bathroom and into the hotel room. Karl sat on one of the beds, flipping through the French television. He looked up when she emerged._

_"I hope you're alright," he said uncertainly._

_"I will be."_

_She hoped Karl's aptitude for catching her in a lie wasn't as experienced as another's._

_"You know I was surprised when you showed up here," Karl told her as she sat on the opposite bed. "Your father seemed to think that everything was... fine over where you were."_

_"Well you work for my father's practice, but I didn't think you were so involved in his family life."_

_"I guess when I met you the last time you came here with that boyfriend of yours, it worried me. I'm glad to know that you've gotten out of that."_

_"What was so wrong with him?" Blair asked defensively, not able to help herself._

_"Well I would have thought that you would have known that considering you're not together anymore. You're not... are you?"_

_"I'm not sure."_

_But she knew that was a lie. She knew that he would never take her back after just leaving like that. It wasn't like she had fled to Bangkok because her father had just died. This was of her own will and volition. And it was all her fault._

_"I never liked him anyway," Karl sighed. "Just one of those guys who use women. Drinkers who don't take anything seriously._

You don't know him.

_It didn't matter, no matter how many times she defended him and knew she was the only one who saw the real him. And she had just abandoned him. Little did Karl know that Chuck was very serious. So serious that had Blair stayed where she was, maybe that shiny rock would be lovingly placed on her finger. _

_Did she really want that? Of course she did. Of course she wanted to be with her other half (if not better half) for the rest of her life. She just didn't know if he did. She just didn't know if he would really stay with her. Like so many times before, what was really stopping him from finding something better?_

_"I'm just glad that you gave me a call," Karl smiled. Blair returned it tightly. She could pretend for now, but she knew she couldn't just stay here for good. Even across transatlantic waters, her gravitational pull towards him was magnetic. She didn't know how long she could stay away. The summer of '08, she only lasted three months anyway. And there he was at the Jitney, new hair and neon coat. And he looked amazing. The only thing that stopped her form mauling him right there was the fact that she was there on a mission. And she shamed him with her new cardboard cutout._

_Things were different this time. He hadn't abandoned her on a helipad to Tuscany. She was the one who abandoned him this time and she couldn't take it. She didn't think she could stand being in this room another minute pretending nothing was wrong. Reigning in the tears of shame and longing that begged to be released._

_"I have to make a call, if you don't mind," Blair said, picking up her phone. She got up without another word and went to the bathroom again._

_"If you're sure," Karl said. "I wouldn't want you to do anything you regret."_

_She really didn't care if he knew she was crying. This really wasn't about him. She closed the door behind her and sank to the floor again. She pressed speed dial 1 for her voice mail and listened to the message again._

_"_Blair_..." came his rough voice. It was his drunk voice. "_Blair, pick up._.."_

_And the tears began to slide down her face again. She couldn't stop them. _

_

* * *

_

_Chuck fumbled for his bedside table. His hand landed on his phone and he pressed her speed dial number again. It seemed like that was what he had always been doing. He couldn't get the dreadful feeling out of his system that it was for good this time. She hopped a plane to Paris. No matter what had happened between them, she had never fled to another country... unlike him. And he couldn't take it. He couldn't understand it either. But mostly... he just couldn't take the fact that he would have to see her and know that she had left him purposely. That she could have been his, but just wasn't. Maybe if he wasn't so stupid and had just told her about the ring sooner she wouldn't be gone. But that didn't matter. Not anymore._

_"_Blair_," he said into the phone. He didn't remember what else he said. It didn't matter. She would never pick up. She would never come back to him._

_He threw the phone back onto the table when he heard a clatter. He rolled onto his stomach to see the bottles scattered over his table. He picked one up and squinted at the label. He couldn't read it but he popped a few pills anyway. That would make it better. It would make him feel numb. It would make it all better._

_He heard the door creak open. He was sure that hotel room doors locked on their own. But when he heard the voice he knew why it was open. The concierge would have gladly let him up._

_"Chuck," Eric sighed. "What are you doing?"_

_"I'm pretty sure that women refer to it as 'wallowing,'" he replied. "With the exception that I don't eat raw cookie doe and watch _Love Story_ on repeat."_

_"She's going to come back," Eric said self assuredly. "You know she will. She always does."_

_"Not this time," Chuck slurred, his tongue becoming heavy. "I don't what I did, but I did it bad. And she's not coming back. She's left me. For good."_

_"Chuck, are you..." Eric traveled off. "Oh my god."_

_"What?" Chuck asked. Or at least, that's what he thought he said. It came out heavy and garbled even though it was one syllable._

_"Oh my god, Chuck, how many did you take?"_

_Chuck leaned to his side to see that his bedside table didn't have just one pill bottle but several, all spilled over so the different colors mixed together._

_"I... don't remember," Chuck answered truthfully._

_"Oh my god."_

_Eric fumbled for the phone and called the front desk. Chuck couldn't hear what he was saying. His surroundings were growing fuzzy and Eric's voice was growing fainter and fainter._

_He could vaguely tell being lifted into a stretcher as the ambulance's lights flashed across his face._

_"Can you tell me your name?" one of the paramedics asked. Chuck groaned. The only name he could think of didn't belong to him. It was the one that had dragged him here. And he didn't even blame her for it._

_"His name's Chuck."_

_Serena. Just what made this little excursion better._

_"Chuck, can you hear me?" the paramedic asked._

_Chuck groaned. "Vaguely."_

_"What was that?" the paramedic asked._

_"He said 'vaguely.'"_

_He could hear the bitter amusement in Eric's voice._

_Chuck was suddenly being jerked out of the back of the ambulance. He heard a bunch of voices at the same time as he was being rolled down some hallway with sterile walls._

_"What did he take?"_

_"We could barely understand him let alone ask what pills he's taken."_

_"Its pills?"_

_"Most likely paired with strong alcohol."_

_"Do you know what?"_

_"No."_

_"There's only one thing we can do."_

_"Bring him in here."_

_He was hauled suddenly onto a bed. His head lolled to his side. He just wanted to sleep but apparently the stupid interns felt differently._

_"Chuck?" one of them asked. "Chuck, can you hear me?"_

_"Unfortunately," Chuck muttered. He wasn't sure if any of them understood that but apparently it was enough._

_"Okay, here we go. Chuck? You're going to have to do something for me, alright?"_

_Chuck just groaned again._

_"You're going to have to swallow this tube for me, okay?"_

_No, that was not okay. They didn't seem to care._

_"Open your mouth."_

_You'd think that he would have been through this before but Chuck wasn't stupid. He knew mixing pills and alcohol was bad news. But that's what she did to him. She made him stupid._

_"Come on, Chuck, you need to do this for me."_

_Chuck hated it when people did that. When they spoke to him like they knew him. No one did. The only one who did was free of him in France._

_"Open his mouth."_

_So he didn't have a choice anymore. A tube was forced down his mouth and he was forced to swallow it. Everything came up. And then everything went black._

_

* * *

_

_"Will he be alright?"  
"They said that he's just resting now."_

_"What did he take."_

_"A bunch of painkillers. Not to mention about two bottles of scotch."_

_"He tried to kill himself."_

_"_No_. No, he didn't. It wasn't like me and you know it. He didn't even know he took it."_

_"That's not good news, Eric."_

_"At least he's alive."_

_"We have to call her. She has to know."_

_"No," Chuck croaked. His throat felt like sandpaper. "Don't."_

_"Chuck," Serena said, putting her hand on his arm. "How are you feeling?"_

_"Like I just vomited a week's worth of scotch and pills," Chuck said in annoyance. "How do you think?"_

_"We have to call her, Chuck," Serena said._

_"No," Chuck said roughly. "No, you don't."_

_"She has to know what happened."_

_"Stop, Serena," Eric said. "If he doesn't want her to know, she doesn't have to know."_

_"But after everything that happened--"_

_"She'll come back," Chuck said. "And I don't want that."_

_"You don't?" Serena asked._

_"If she comes back, then it will be out of pity," Chuck replied. "Not because she wants to. And it wasn't her fault. It was mine. When she comes back, it will be because she wants to. Not because of extenuating circumstances. Alright?"  
When Chuck Bass gave commands, the only thing you could do was obey._

_"Alright," Serena sighed. "Alright."_


	9. 3:50 PM

**A/N**: So sorry this took so long to get out. I got tied up with other things and just laziness to write. Especially since Gossip Girl is back, I've been writing other things. But I'll try to be updating my neglected fics. I hope this fic isn't going too offbase, but this is the direction its going.

**Summary**:

"I merely illustrated the obvious point that what belongs to me is untouchable."

"And what would that be?" Blair asked softly.

He sent her a sly smirk. "The thing that was always mine."

**Disclaimer**: Nothing belongs to me. All is GG.

* * *

**in the not too distant future.**

_Chuck held an ice pack to his face. He watched the cops warily scout the members of the party that were not in the ER. They wouldn't pick him up. Humphrey, maybe. But not him. He was not to be touched._

_She entered the wing and he was relieved. He was glad she didn't get in the middle. If his jaw was any testament, it could have turned ugly. Did turn ugly. The other guy was even worse. She sat primly next to him, pretending that she didn't in fact have a very obvious tear in her dress. They were quiet for a moment._

_"She's playing you."_

_"She's not," he said shortly._

_"Why?" Blair asked, turning to him. "Inconceivable that your betrothed would betray you?"_

_"Stop it," he growled. "You know why. I don't get played."_

_She eyed him pointedly._

_"Present company excluded, of course," he amended. She smiled in satisfaction. "I'm not the only one. You know that he's not exactly pure and innocent, don't you?"_

_Her face turned stony and he could relax again._

_"We're going to take them down."_

_She cast her eyes over to him. "We?"_

_He looked back. "Yes."_

_"I know."_

_That was all the reason she needed._

**two hours previous.**

It wasn't a secret. Chuck's detestation for any male who came in the proximity of Blair meant certain death. It was just a rule. It was a rule that was well known and everyone abided by. It was Karl who would face the consequences.

Chuck never liked him to begin with. Even when he was "innocently" working for Harold's company, Chuck saw right through that charade. It was more than obvious.

This, however, was crossing a line. Chuck knew exactly what was going on in Paris. He didn't have a PI on retainer for nothing. Bills for hotels were proof enough that Chuck had to murder him. Be it social or physical, anything would do. Chuck usually didn't do physical. It was uncivilized, but that wasn't the point. The point was, Karl was on his turf and this had to stop.

Chuck Bass had never hit anyone in his life. It had never come down to that. He would stew in his revenge haze until it came time to destroy the perpetrator (usually with the help of one Blair Cornelia Waldorf.) However, desperate times called for desperate measures. Chuck was nowhere near that stage yet, but his emotions, as always, were just brewing beneath the surface.

There he was. The source of all his anguish in the past two years. He was just leaning against the counter, society in a basic ring around them, waiting for something to happen that even Chuck didn't know was occurring.

"Darling," Penelope said smoothly, moving in between Blair and Chuck (a dangerous feat to be sure.) "It seems that Karl just came to drop by. He's great friends of daddy's."

_Of course he was_.

"And it seems there have been a lot of uninvited guests these days," Penelope finished, shooting a pointed glare at Blair.

Blair was not fooled. Chuck wouldn't have been either if he wasn't in a scotch and jealous induced rage. Blair scowled at Penelope. Her manipulation senses had ignited the minute she saw Karl. This was not Karl's idea. This was someone who had experience. Not a lot, or was very talented at it, but someone who had been around the art of manipulation before.

She was not fooled for one second. And the minute she could have done something about it, she was stopped.

"Bass," Karl said as Chuck vaguely registered Blair being dragged away by his invasive sister.

"What are you doing here?" Chuck asked shortly.

"Why, I was invited," Karl said coolly. "I mean, we do have a friend in common."

"Maybe," Chuck said admittedly, "but I know for a fact that she didn't invite you. She didn't even know she was coming until she spontaneously hopped on the G-5."

"Darling," Penelope said, her hands on Chuck's shoulder. He couldn't find the strength in him to shake her off since all of his anger was being channeled towards the cretin who had kept the one thing that meant anything to him away.

"We don't want to get caught up in a lovers' quarrel. Blair and Karl should work this out on their own."

Something in Chuck clicked. He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before. He was not fooled for one second. But the minute he could have done something about it, he was stopped.

"Blair asked me here," Karl said. "She didn't want to be accosted by some jealous ex who was never good enough for her.

"Really?" Chuck asked. The hit wasn't even good enough to faze him. "Then I wonder why it was that she was screaming my name in the back of my limo not moments or go. Or the real reason you came which probably had something to do with the fact that you were just a filler who couldn't even fill her enough. Or my personal favorite, when she should have been crying your name, she was yelling mine."

Karl's fingers curled into a fist.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Serena demanded, her arm painfully tight around Blair's arm.

"What?" Blair said, wincing in pain. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be by Chuck's side, protecting him and stopping him from doing something stupid. He was prone to bad reactions in situations like this. But instead of telling her ex that Carter Baizen was tapping that and starting a brawl at Cotillion, he was... starting a brawl at his own engagement party.

"Where have you been?" Serena demanded. Blair just shot her a pointed look. Like she needed to ask.

"You're causing more trouble than you're fixing."

"But I wasn't trying to fix anything," Blair deadpanned.

"Really?" Serena asked skeptically. "So you didn't come here to break up Chuck's engagement?"

"That was an accident."

"Then what are you _doing_?"

Before Blair could even think of an excuse, they heard it. The crowd was suddenly hollering and they turned to see what had happened.

"What were you thinking?" Blair parried. "Apparently two years of high school isn't enough to teach you."

Sure enough in the midst of the brawl was Dan Humphrey. Karl was trying to get around him to where Chuck was wiping blood from his nose.

"And what were _you_ thinking?" Serena asked back. Blair always picked the ones who got punched in the face. Figures. At least he wasn't the instigator.

Mostly.

* * *

Apparently a party goer thought it would be insanely hilarious if they called the cops. The red and blue lights flashed across the building as Blair down in dismay at the state of her dress at the brawl. Damn that Mother Chucker.

Blair was quite certain, however, that you couldn't arrest anyone in their own homes without a warrant, especially when you lived on the Upper East Side. However, assault was apparently assault and Blair watched in horror as they clasped handcuffs on Humphrey, Chuck, and Karl. Okay fine, in dismay at just Chuck. He sort of already had a rap.

Blair did her best to stall these proceedings but she accepted the opinion that the NYPD was a bitch.

"Miss," the cop sighed as she stepped in front of him and Chuck. Chuck's eyes relaxed at the sight of her but she knew that didn't really make up for the fact that he was being hauled of to a prison cell. Again. "You're going to have to get out of the way."

"But he didn't even do anything," Blair protested. "_He_ was the attacked."

"I have to take everyone down."

"But that's not fair."

"And according to the witnesses, he did use provocation."

The cop walked by her while Chuck threw her a smirk. He liked it when she got feisty for him. She resisted her desperate urge to slap that smirk off his face.

"Don't worry, Waldorf," he said smugly as he passed. "I'll be highly anticipating my release knowing that you're waiting for me on the outside."

Blair glared after him, however not able to stop the spread of warmth in her stomach. He was technically engaged. Her eyes slid across the crowd and landed on something she shouldn't have. Vanessa was looking around with a distinct look of guilt in her eyes. She looked for an escape as Blair made her way towards her to no avail.

"You didn't," Blair snapped. "You at least have to deny it."

"It was for the best, Blair," Vanessa said.

"Really?" Blair asked. "You saw a brawl in the middle of a society event, which I have no idea how you got invited to in the first place by the way, and thought to yourself, 'what can I do to make this situation better?'"

"Well its better than sneaking off with the groom-to-be and seducing him in the back of his limo."

Blair's manicure dug into her palm, leaving red crescent marks.

"If I wasn't just discovering a conspiracy among the ranks," Blair seethed, "I would so take you down right now."

She spun around. This so wasn't over.

"Blair," came the sickly sweet voice. Blair turned to face the bitch who had caused her so much angst. "What an unfortunate twist of events."

"That's right," Blair said thoughtfully. "Your fiancé just got hauled off to jail. What would your parents think? The scandal would kill them. Especially after the one where you were screwing your father's junior partner."

"They would pity me because a harlot stole my husband," Penelope spat angrily.

"What a paradox," Blair replied. "A harlot calling another woman a harlot. What would they think when they heard you stole him first?"  
"He was fair game, B," Penelope sneered. "You weren't here."

"Is that so?" Blair asked. "So that wasn't you who was coming on to him at that gala the night before I left?"

Penelope's face fell.

"You had this all planned, you little bitch," Blair snapped. "You got Karl to come here. And what was the main objective? Leave the scheming to the experts. You need brains and a little something called talent. You lack both."

"Maybe you're the one who does," Penelope replied. "You're the one who was caught completely off guard."

"It doesn't matter motive, as long as my endgame is the same," Blair replied. "Facts are facts. And the fact is I'm going to take you down."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Blair said thoughtfully, "that sounds oddly like a challenge."

* * *

Blair picked up her phone abruptly as it vibrated.

"Hello?"  
Serena looked at her as they waited in the parlor with Eric.

"You have got to be kidding," Blair muttered.

"What is it?" Serena asked.

"We're going to the ER."

Blair found him first. He was slumped in a chair in the hallway, an ice pack pressed to his jaw.

"I can't believe that I was your phone call," Blair said, not letting flattery enter her tone. She looked around her surroundings. This definitely wasn't a prison cell.

"Well?" she asked. He grinned painfully at her.

"My wounds were critical," he said. "They had to make sure I was taken care of."

He rattled the handcuffs that linked him to his chair. Blair rolled her eyes.

"When are they shipping you back?"

"Oh, they're not," he smirked. "I'm not to be touched. This is just for show."

"Lovely."

She looked to see Humphrey was being escorted out of the building by the police.

"So?" Blair asked. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Is that so?" Blair asked. "Because that completely explains why you're chained to a chair."

"I'd rather be chained to you," he said, leaning into her as far as the handcuffs would allow. She lightly pushed his face away. He smirked against her hand.

"I need to know if I was lying to the police or not," Blair said shortly. "Did you really start it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Bass," she snapped. She could always get him to do what she wanted when she used that voice on him. He liked it when her bitch was showing.

"I didn't throw any punches."

"Provocation," Blair said dryly, knowing him far too well.

"I merely illustrated the obvious point that what belongs to me is untouchable."

"And what would that be?" Blair asked softly.

He sent her a sly smirk. "The thing that was always mine."

"This caused him to attempt to put a dent in your face?" she asked, pulling away from their close proximity with slight reluctance.

"What can I say?" Chuck asked. "I bring out the worst in people. But when Karl pulled back his fist, Humphrey decided to get involved."

"How romantic," Blair said sweetly.

"Speaking of romantic," Chuck said, rattling his cuffs again with suggestion, "they said I could keep them."

"You're heinous," Blair laughed lightly, sitting next to him. She looked at him thoughtfully. He met her gaze with his intensity and Blair knew she never wanted to be anywhere else. She would never run or hide from him again. She placed her hand delicately over the flesh that had been rubbed raw by his restraints.

"Chuck," she said softly.

"Yes, gorgeous?" he asked. Blair rolled her eyes. But she had to tell him. They had to take them down.

"She's playing you," she finally said.

"She's not," he said said as though it was impossible. No one played Chuck Bass.

"Why?" Blair asked. "Inconceivable that your betrothed would betray you?"

"Stop it," he growled. "You know why. I don't get played."

She eyed him pointedly.

"Present company excluded, of course," he amended. She smiled in satisfaction. "I'm not the only one. You know that he's not exactly pure and innocent, don't you?"

Her face turned stony and he could relax again.

"We're going to take them down."

She cast her eyes over to him. "We?"

He looked back. "Yes."

That was all the reason she needed_._

_"I know."_


	10. 4:50 PM

A/N: So this is was going to be way longer than my usual chapters for this fic, but I split it on a cliff hanger (too bad for you.) I know I haven't updated in like forever. Sorry. I'm not sure how many more chapters there's going to be but this is coming to a close. This chapter is a little filler but it was just too long, sorry, again. I didn't edit this a lot, so sorry for mistakes. I just wanted to get this out since I hadn't updated for awhile.

Summary: He was going to make it last this time. Not just their physical exertions, but everything. He was going to keep her this time. And it wasn't over. Because he was going to take her into his bed and love her the way they were meant to be.

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. All rights are Gossip Girl's.

* * *

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong, _wrong_, **wrong**. But something that was so wrong couldn't feel so good... could it? Because if there was something that she was sure of, it was how she never wanted to be anywhere else. But still, in the recession of her mind, she knew this wasn't how they were supposed to be.

She also knew it was too late. Not only because she had started loving him with all her might when she was a simple (or not so simple) girl of 16, but because the way he was moving against her made things way too late. Too late in the respect of how his tongue danced across her neck in a tortuous path that made it apparent that having sex with him in the back of his limo again, for the second time that day, was really not a way to get sympathy. It wasn't really what she was aiming for, because Penelope wasn't blameless in this whole debacle, but fooling around with someone else's fiancé really was frowned upon even if he just happened to belong to you anyway. Because Chuck Bass definitely did belong to Blair Waldorf. That's the way it was and would always be.

So she just gave into herself. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help anything when he was doing that infuriating thing he did to her insides.

She suddenly felt him hiss and she pulled away instinctively. He still remained to have his shirt stripped form his body like she liked (because he only left his clothes on when he was with his whores, not her) but did have all of the buttons popped out of their holes, revealing the chest that was heaving with desire. She could still, however, see his wrists that were rubbed raw by the handcuffs that lay on the floor of the limo. He had still insisted on keeping them (no matter how unsanitary it was that drug dealers of some sort had probably shared it with her Chuck) claiming they could wash them... and then she had stopped listening because he had somehow already ripped off her skirt. He was efficient that way. Tricky bastard.

She pulled away from his injured wrists but he still surged ahead, ignoring the sharp prickling, evidence of how much his "fiancé" was so going to go down courtesy of his beautiful lover. The real one. The one that he was sure he would never let go of every again, because you would be completely idiotic to do so.

"Chuck..." she said uncertainly, hating that she still had the ability to hurt him, even if it was just physically this time and not tearing his soul to shreds.

"Shh," he quited her, enveloping her in another fiery kiss. He was so afraid that she would resist him again. The afternoon had seemed to good (despite the small detail of getting arrested.) She had finally come to him. After eternities of absence she walked into his place like she owned it and submitted to him in the dominant way that only she could.

He had been preparing to make this last as long as possible even though his limo happened to be parked right in front of the building he shared with a harpy. He just didn't care anymore. He couldn't when her toes were curling under him in the way that she had confided in him one night when she knocked back on too many gin martini's only he could inspire in her. Then all of a sudden her scream of his name shattered his concentration and he let go. He could have made it last longer but she always made him lose his concentration. She was just so distracting.

He was going to make it last this time. Not just their physical exertions, but everything. He was going to keep her this time. And it wasn't over. Because he was going to take her into his bed and love her the way they were meant to be.

He peeled himself off of her and watched her hesitantly as he pulled his shirt on (which she always insisted that he take off, another thing that he loved about her, though he wasn't sure why.) He knew she was about to say something to make this exponentially worse so he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

He loved it when he took her by surprise. Her brown eyes widened and he wanted to drink her in. But he had her attention and it always got him that he still had the ability to always excite her, always confuse her, always have them be... just Chuck and Blair.

"Beautiful," he called her softly. She gently tried to pull away from him but he pulled her into him sharply and kissed her again, hard. He heard her make a sound of more surprise at the back of her throat which only encouraged him to kiss her harder.

He pulled away and took her hand tenderly, pulling at her.

"Sorry," she said quickly, pulling from his hands, away from his slight injury. She looked ashamed, like it was her fault. He didn't say anything, urging her silently to look at him.

"You thought about me."

She looked at him questioningly and he smirked knowingly.

"The whole time you were away," he said smugly, "you thought about me. Thinking about how no one could read you like I can." He leaned to her throat and lay a small kiss there. She leaned forward instinctually and he pulled away again, opening the door and getting out. Her eyes narrowed and she followed him carefully as though she knew his game.

He really couldn't argue with her. Because he had her pressed against his limo, his lips melding with hers again. He felt her freeze beneath him with disappointment as she attempted to extricate herself.

"What?"

"Chuck, stop."

"What?" he asked again, angrier this time.

"Just no."

"No?" he sneered. "What do you mean no?"

Blair raised an artful eyebrow at him. "We can't."

"We can't?" he laughed cruelly. "That didn't exactly stop you from jumping me when I was discharged."

"Me?" she asked skeptically. "You're the one who considered an hour in a jail cell a need for a conjugal visit."

He suddenly pressed himself against her and from her posture, he knew that she was aware of his status of admiration towards her at the moment.

"You weren't exactly complaining, sweetheart."

She shoved him away. "Not out here."

"Luckily I own the building."

What could a girl do but agree? Even if she didn't really want to.

* * *

Elevators were tricky for them. It wasn't just the time that he trapped her and Serena in one to liquor them up to get them to kiss (yes, she knew his real motive-- he didn't give a damn about her best friend and her making up.) It just so happened that not so long ago during a black out in which they were trapped in an elevator he had once again convinced her to take her clothes off (he had a talent for that), unaware that the security cameras were still in effect (which he knew, she was sure of, since he owned the building) and almost had the tapes sent to her mother just for fun.

Yes, elevators were complicated for the for the sole fact that he could press the emergency stop button any moment and have her curling in on herself with sheer need for him. Then again, he could do that just as well in his own bed, but he just liked catching her unawares.

This was probably how not five minutes after he had rolled off of her for the second time that day, his hand was down the front of her dress while holding her leg up around his waist. She had to admit, he was gifted.

"Chuck," she said, turning her head away from him again. He misunderstood entirely.

"I'm almost there," he said gruffly, tight with want.

"No," she mumbled and she was sure that he didn't hear her. Either that or he was choosing to ignore her which he did when she was resistant.

"Chuck--" she tried again but was cut off by sharp teeth at her neck which never failed to have her choke off. She knew him so well, though, that she was able to gain her wind again. "I told you..."

He groaned in annoyance, but still not detaching himself. "You said not in public. We're alone here. Very alone."

she didn't like his tone. She knew the warning signs. They were dangerously close to exploding in this very small shaft. She hated how that made her just want more.

"You're engaged."

That set him off. He groaned loudly and angrily, pushing himself off of her. He stalked in the small space of the elevator, running his hands agitatedly through his hair that she wished she could entwine her hands through again.

"Why do you insist on complicating things?" he asked with vigor.

"You weren't exactly resistant, _darling_," Blair snapped. "The minute I showed up you were all over me."

"Like it wasn't what you wanted," he retorted. "You don't know what's its been like. I wish it wasn't like this."

"Maybe you shouldn't have gotten engaged."

"That's not even it," he said. "Because I'm not. You know I'm not."

"Really?" Blair asked with slow acid. "Because that invitation proves otherwise."

"Then you shouldn't have come," he said. "You shouldn't have made me need you so much again."

"I guess that's the difference between us," Blair said coolly. "Because I've never stopped needing you."

"But you left," he ground out.

"And I would have come back sooner if you wanted me to," Blair said, suddenly sullen. "I would have been at your side in a second when you in the hospital. But once again, you didn't want me to."

And there it was. The reason that he loved her so much. It was the reason he hated her so much. He didn't know how she had found out (damn Serena) but she did. And it didn't matter to her because she hadn't acted any differently. They still wanted each other (loved each other) in the same desperate and heady way they had at 16. and that would never change.

"Blair," Chuck said, afraid of her reaction.

Fortunately, the elevator slid open.

Or unfortunately considering who was standing in the apartment.

"_Oh my god._"

Well Blair would recognize that judgmental voice from anywhere. She was still hot from the arguing with Chuck that never ceased to whip her into a frenzy and the very recent sex that she scolded her body for betraying her to the enemy that she turned to face Serena without even a thought to what they both looked like.

If it hadn't been for Chuck's dark chuckle at Serena's face, Blair wouldn't have noticed. She still didn't, until she felt his burning gaze penetrate her. She looked and saw how low his eye line had dipped. She shoved him away quickly, zipping up the front of her dress where Chuck's insistent hands had treaded briefly.

"What do you think you are doing?" Serena asked, pulling her out of the elevator, right before the doors closed on them. Chuck followed at a leisurely pace, their past discussion forgotten in Serena's humorous reaction.

"I should ask you the same question, sis," Chuck drawled. "What are you still doing in my house?"

"And I should ask you the same question," Serena said, glaring at Blair. "And I was waiting for you, _brother_."

"I'm touched," Chuck said, rolling his eyes sarcastically.

"Not as touched as you were about to be," Serena shot back, sending Blair another look.

"I don't know why you're standing to be so judgmental all of a sudden," Chuck said sourly. "We were just--"

"Fornicating?"

"Someone's been reading the dictionary," Chuck said. "Not that its any of your business."

"It is when you're luring my best friend into an affair."

"You'll find, actually, that it was the other way around," Chuck said suggestively, not so subtly checking Blair out beside him.

"I don't care," Serena said. "And we're leaving."

"Its my house," Chuck said darkly. "And we were in the middle of something."

"I don't want to know what you were in the middle of," Serena said, grabbing Blair again and pulling her towards the elevator.

"Again," Chuck growled, "none of your business."

He didn't even have a chance to follow as Blair's searching eyes were shut out and she was gone, obscured by that elevator that he now vowed to hate.

"It wasn't like that," Blair said quietly as the elevator descended towards the lobby. "Really."

"Oh, really?" Serena asked scornfully. "Because it looked like you were about to have unsanitary sex in an elevator with my step-brother. My _engaged_ step-brother."

"Just because you had your heart broken by a committed scum bag doesn't mean I will," Blair shot back, hitting her where it hurt. "And you're not one to call me out on elevators, by the way."

"And I learned my lesson."

"Sure," Blair shrugged. "And all of the other mistakes you made."

"He's committed to Penelope," Serena said, almost regretfully. "And don't think he won't break your heart, because he will."

"Been there, done that," Blair said flippantly. "Because really, its all relative. Nothing can hurt as much as being forbidden to go to him when he needed me most."

"He didn't want you there."

She was sure that Chuck wasn't really committed to her. He promised. Blair pressed her fingers to her forehead and Serena almost wanted to comfort her. But this was going too far too fast and she didn't know what to do to stop it. So she just stood there as the doors opened.

"I know."

Then again, she spoke too soon. Serena tightened and Blair just sighed.

"Hello, Penelope."


	11. 6:00 PM

**A/N**: Since this is a continuation of the last chapter, I just suggest you re-read the last one to reacquaint yourselves with the material. It starts right where it left off. I don't know how good it is but after this things will pretty much come to a close. I don't know the specifics, but I pretty much know how its going to end.

**Summary**: "What do you expect?" she asked. He was advancing again and she didn't have any room to flee anymore. She didn't want to leave. She hated leaving him. But he was danger and it was just as simple as that. It had to be.

"Honestly?" he asked. "I expect us to have crazy and wild sex on this roof."

**Disclaimer**: Nothing is mine. Gossip Girl is king.

* * *

"Blair," Penelope said coldly as Blair and Serena exited the elevator. "What are you doing here? At my house. It seems like you've done enough damage for the day."

"Last time I checked it was Chuck's house," Blair retaliated. "And don't act like you didn't enjoy every minute of it."

"As much as I'm going to enjoy going home to my fiancé?" Penelope asked. Blair's jaw tightened and was surprised at her own restraint that she didn't rip Penelope's hair from the roots. Then again, she was never one for physical altercations. She proved much more detrimental at revenge. So Blair put on her cold society smile as Penelope entered the elevator.

Blair turned to face her opponent.

"Go ahead, P," Blair sighed. "Just remember that in those cold and fleeting moments you share with him, he's actually imagining me just the way he likes it."

She had the satisfaction enough of watching Penelope's expression drop as the elevator doors closed in front of her face. Victory was fun.

"Blair, what were you thinking?" Serena asked in a astonished whisper as the doorman looked with raised eyebrows. But Blair wasn't moving.

"Blair," Serena snapped.

"You're right," Blair said, relenting. "I shouldn't have said those things."

Serena stared at her as Blair slowly walked out the doors.

"Are you okay?" Serena finally asked. She didn't want Blair falling down this familiar hole.

"I'm fine," Blair smirked to herself. Fooling Serena was enough. This would be fun. "I'm fine."

* * *

When the elevator doors opened, Chuck hadn't been expecting her. It was the last person he had been expecting. Then again, it wasn't like Blair was about to walk through those doors again. A billionaire could dream.

"Hello, darling," Penelope said sweetly. Chuck restrained himself from cringing. He hated it. He hated it here. He hated this house and his life and who he was supposedly sharing it with. He hated her because she was scaring away the one person who had meant anything to him.

"Penelope," he said dryly. "Glad of you to stop by."

"Well of course I did," she smiled. And he knew it was coming. Right when her smile dropped. "You know who I ran into in the lobby?"

"Let me guess," he smirked bitterly.

"What was she doing here, Chuck?" Penelope snapped.

"What do you think?" he asked angrily. "Serena had to bail me out of prison. Luckily she brought Blair or I would have been implicated in something even worse."

And luckily Chuck was a master manipulator. Not to mention liar. It didn't matter that she didn't believe it. Of course she didn't. What mattered was what she pretended to believe. And right now, she was pretending to believe him. Case won.

"Blair is a master manipulator."

Yeah, she definitely didn't believe him.

It was awkward enough between them. They both knew that even if this didn't fall through, it would be as good as a society marriage. It didn't matter. He would cheat on her all the time and she would still be hiding the things he already knew she was hiding.

They didn't even sleep in the same bed. He never ventured in there, but he was sure it smelled like another man. And even though he hated being played, he really didn't have it in him to care. He knew he would just be a hypocrite. He still smelled of the beautiful scent of angelic perfume all over him and he knew Penelope was aware of this. And he just didn't care.

They were stuck in this gridlock until he felt a familiar vibrating against his thigh. Except it wasn't he vibrating he wished it was. He took it out. He smirked as he read the message.

"I'm going it," he said, shouldering past Penelope. "Don't wait up."

"Where are you going?" Penelope demanded.

"Work," he replied, pressing the button for the elevator. "Some sort of emergency."

Penelope watched with a cool smile as the doors closed behind him. She didn't even bother responding. Not in the way he expected, she was sure. Instead, she took out her phone and scrolled through the contacts. She listened to the ringing on the other end until he picked up.

"Karl."

* * *

Blair had forgotten what it was like to be around Serena. Not to mention how she overcompensated for knowing how she was an attention whore. She wanted so badly to be a good friend towards Blair that it was hard to shake her. Blair needed to be alone immediately and Serena really wasn't helping. And by alone, she meant with someone else.

She needed to get out. Fortunately, Serena usually believed the things that Blair told her. And when she said she would be fine alone, she was glad that all she received was a small look.

Usually when Blair said she was fine, Serena would later find her and her step brother in the confines of coat check or the family limo.

"_Fine_, Serena," Blair stressed.

"Fine," Serena rolled her eyes. Sometimes, it just paid to have a blonde best friend.

There was only one thing to do now. It was tiring having to lie to everyone she knew. She was going to end this if only for her own sanity. She typed out the text on her keypad and watched as it sent.

**Meet me. our place**

**-B**

It was just a waiting game now.

She knew he was going to respond. He always finished what he started and he didn't like going without. But as she pushed open the door to the roof of _Victrola_, she hadn't expected him to already be there. But he was waiting for her. He was always waiting for her.

"I've been waiting for you," he said with quiet danger as she approached his form next to the edge of the building. It was too reminiscent of failed love proclamations. Things were different this time, though. No matter what, love was proclaimed and even when she was being as resistant as possible couldn't take that away.

"How long do you think that I've been waiting for you?" she asked, almost breathlessly. She knew that when it came to them, things escalated. She knew that it was just different with them. And although she had come here for business, the way he was advancing on her was proving to be hazardous to her self control.

They were just moments like these. One moment they would be sneering at each other and the next she would be pressed against the edge of a roof. His teeth marred the flesh of her neck and she knew she had to stop this.

She put her hands against his chest and carefully put distance between them. It was the only way that she could survive.

"Don't do this to me, Waldorf," he told her. "Not here. Not now."

"What do you expect?" she asked. He was advancing again and she didn't have any room to flee anymore. She didn't want to leave. She hated leaving him. But he was danger and it was just as simple as that. It had to be.

"Honestly?" he asked. "I expect us to have crazy and wild sex on this roof so I can break off my engagement."

"You've got the order wrong," she told him. "I can't do this when you're committed..."

"You know I'm not," he said in frustration.

"Then prove it to me," she whispered, finally giving into her instincts. She felt him tense as she finally let their bodies touch. He evaluated her carefully.

"Care to be more specific?"

"Do you want me?" she asked in her sultry voice.

"You know what I feel for you," he said. "You know its more than that."

"The last two years were the hardest of my life," she confessed. "I hated being without you."

"Then why did you do it?"

"I was scared," she said ironically. "You scare me more than anything."  
"You like being scared, " he remembered. She knew this really wasn't how she wanted the conversation to go. She had to have him be with her again but there was something they had to do first. And there was only one way to accomplish that.

"Will you do something for me, Bass?" she asked coyly.

"Anything," he said without hesitation.

"You know what we both want," she rasped in that seductive tone in his ear. "And you know I want to give it to you."

He could stop his natural reactions and he was suddenly gripping her with all his might.

"But I can't unless you do this for me."

"What?"

He should have known it wasn't going to be that easy.

"I don't like seeing you with her."

"Say it and I'm yours," he said, the same hint of irony in his voice.

"We're going to take down your fiancé," she replied.

"Is that so?"

"It is," she replied. "Because I know exactly how to do it."

* * *

It was very difficult to be in close quarters with her without doing anything. Being trapped in a steel box that lead to his penthouse without being able to touch her was the definition of torture. He could feel the back of his neck get slick and missed the way she used to stroke back his hair.

"How?" he finally asked.

"I knew the minute I saw him," she replied. "He wouldn't have come unless she called him. She did it to destroy me."

"And why would she do that?" he asked.

"Because she knew that if I came back, she wouldn't be married to the richest tycoon in New York," Blair replied, avoiding his eyes. She could feel his boring into the side of her face and she just wasn't ready for this. She remembered. She remembered everything. She had forgotten how powerful his appeal was for her and she had been away for so long she had forgotten how to defend herself against it.

"And what do you propose?" Chuck asked quietly as they entered the foyer of his penthouse. Blair paused.

"Do you hear that?"  
Chuck was about to get annoyed at her for changing the subject. But then he did hear it. He watched in admiration as Blair ascended the stairs with the grace of an avenger. He couldn't believe he had forgotten what life was without her. Now, he didn't ever want to again.

Blair put her hand to Penelope's unlocked door as it eased open. Chuck should have been expecting it, but he couldn't help but feel a twinge of betrayal. His fiancé (if in name only) in his own house. He wasn't much better but he knew his situation was different. He just stood there as Blair drew out her phone.

"Smile, P," Blair said sweetly as she took the shot of Penelope and Karl in bed together.


	12. 11:59 PM

A/N: This is a mega short chapter but I'll be updating really soon. There's just one more chapter after this one. It ends pretty predictably but just deal with it. This has officially the shortest word count of anything I've ever written.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Gossip Girl.

* * *

It hadn't taken that long for the blast to reach the people that mattered. The people that mattered would always look for faults that they could exploit. The paparazzi was already crowding outside of the penthouse as Chuck walked out.

He smirked as he watch his ex-fiancé (as of six hours ago) in tears as her parents looked on while her things were piled into the limo. No doubt they would be sending her out to the Hamptons or Europe for a permanent stay. Scandal was death in the society such as theirs. He didn't have to wonder where her little concubine had run off to. He didn't belong in this world. He was gone. He didn't have a name to worry about.

However, Chuck wasn't even looking at the investment he was glad had fallen through. His real concern was the one that had vanished into thin air right after she sent the blast. He easily ignored the bulbs flashing in his eyes. It was something he had learned from an early age.

He really shouldn't be in the public eye right after something occurred that could be detrimental to his name to begin with. But quite honestly, there wasn't really anything worse than the things he had done in high school.

He shoved his hand in his pockets. He outlined the box in his pocket with his fingers. She was supposed to be here. It wasn't like she had actually told him she would be, but he just assumed. He couldn't think that she would just jet off to Paris again. He hated what a neurotic mess she resorted him into when he just got a taste.

That didn't mean he was completely oblivious to the stares he was used to. This time it wasn't "come hither" looks from women twice his age. He wasn't in high school anymore.

"She could be gone, you know," Serena said. Chuck rolled his eyes before he turned to face her.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," he sighed, still scanning the crowd.

"You really don't care about anyone but yourself," Serena scowled.

"No," he said. "I care about my money too."

"She's gone, Chuck."

He felt his physique tense. That was exactly what he didn't want.

"We'll see about that," Chuck replied, before stalking off. He didn't hear the angry yells after him from some slut that was just a pawn anyway.

It didn't take much to figure out where she went. In addition to him knowing absolutely everything about her, where else would she have gone? Her entire family was stationed in Paris now. She would go back to the place that reminded her of family.


	13. The Days After

A/N: As promised, here is the last chapter. It was meant to be part of the last one but I separated it so read it in synch with the last one if you want. Finally ending this fic. I hope its not disappointing.

Summary:

Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Thanks for all of the reviews and support for this fic and also _Desperate Housewives_ who helped inspire it.

* * *

"I bought it."

Blair turned around in her room, looking at him carefully at her doorway.

"What?" she asked gently.

"Your mother made the permanent move to Paris," Chuck explained. "And then you just... left. So I bought the building."

"You knew I would be back," Blair assumed.

"I took a chance," Chuck shrugged. "I kept it just as you left it."

"I see," Blair replied.

"Do you want me to leave?" he finally asked as she took a seat on her bed.

"No," she shook her head, her soft curls framing her face. "I want you to sit next to me."

Chuck approached cautiously, never underestimating the things that she did to him. He took a seat next to her, taking in her profile.

"I didn't run from you," she said quietly, staring at a point on the other side of the room. "I ran from the idea that you can never have a happy marriage on the Upper East Side. I wanted to come back after I heard about... the accident. But I didn't think you wanted me to."

He was silent for a long time. She couldn't bare to look at him, not wanting to be more of a disappointment. He spoke up finally.

"I wasn't asking anything from you," he replied.

"I know," she said, finally turning her head towards him. "But I wanted you to. And that scared me more than anything."

"You would have gladly taken the Vanderbilt ring," he reminded her coldly.

"Because it would have been a society marriage."

"And... us?" he pressed.

"I have never loved anyone like I love you," she said, nearing him slowly. And only took him a second to take in what she was saying before her back hit the mattress as he ripped at her hindering garments.

He was just thankful that she wasn't pushing him away like he was so afraid he would have to face happening for the rest of his life.

Instead, his heart just jumped as she rid him of his pants.

* * *

He usually liked basking in the afterglow. He remembered a time when he was with all those other girls. There were the chatty ones that really ruined his high. But when Blair used to do it, he just listened. She would say things that he had never really heard before.

She would tell him she loved him.

Every time her soft breath would brush against his shoulder with her words of love. It was only then when they weren't afraid. They didn't hide their feelings from each other. He loved the way she would love at him.

Now, her silence bothered him. He rolled on his side, facing her slick back. He thought back when he used to trace patterns between the freckles on it. He was apprehensive to touching her now, however. He wanted to. He wanted to keep touching her.

She was too silent now. He didn't want her to kick him out, even though he was technically the one who bought the place. He opted for speaking instead.

"Its yours if you want it."

"What?" she asked, her back still turned.

"The building," he said. "If you're... staying. You can have it."

"What?" she asked, rolling onto her back. He liked that she was actually smiling at least. "You're going to sell me my penthouse?"

"Think of it more as... joint custody."

At least he could still make her laugh.

"I didn't realize we were divorced," Blair rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you want," he smirked.

"I know what I want," Blair said, sitting up away from him. "I just don't know if I should trust those impulses anymore."

Chuck reached down for his jacket, retrieving the box. He took out the chain and quickly looped it around her neck, clasping it. Her head dipped, examining the ring at the base of her throat.

"Someday," he said, "I don't really want to return to that penthouse. I shared it with some soul-sucking harpy. I wouldn't want that to be us."

"This belonged to your mother," Blair whispered, reading the inscription. He knew they were treading carefully around the "us" topic.

"It doesn't mean anything," he promised. "I just don't want you walking off again."

"It means something," she said, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck. "Just don't go romancing my minions again."

"Does that mean you're staying?" he asked smugly. Blair leaned back against the pillows, her smile sultry.

"We'll see."

**Heiress to Waldorf Fortune Back to Stay on the Upper East Side**

_After her long hiatus, Blair Waldorf has been confirmed to have a permanent stay. Back in the residency of former Waldorfs such as Eleanor Waldorf of Waldorf Designs, the young heiress has been spotted all over Manhatten with a new accessory. Not to mention the CEO of Bass Industries constantly seen on her arm, a certain diamond ring as been present around her neck since her move into the Waldorf penthouse. Does this have anything to do with the cancelled nuptuals between said CEO and Penelope Shafai, recently having been related to a scandal with her father's junior partner? And does this new rock around Miss Waldorf's neck tie her permanently to the young own of_ Bass_? Only time will tell._


End file.
